Papillon
by Glenshadow9
Summary: No themes no devices no climax, just a crude narration following the lives of Rin and Len ten years after they were "adopted". They're fourteen now and about to finish their first year in Secondary school – who'd think their past was still stalking them, just waiting to re-emerge? Len struggles to squash it down. But he soon learns there're some secrets that just won't stay buried…
1. Some Stuff Before You Read This

**HERE COMES A CRAZY LEN-FANATIC CAT, this time out to satisfy (almost) all the cravings of Kuroshitsuji fans. Why? Because Len-kyun cosplayed in VanaN'Ice, that's why. (Courtesy of Natsu-P and co. xP) And because that makes perfect sense.**

**Some stuff before you read this fic:**

**This story is MAJORLY SCREWED UP. Note that the _characters_ manoeuvre the virtually non-existent plot, not the other way round. ****Therefore there's no tragic or happy ending here, and no climax and no timeline and no change. It's just very monotonous with a lot of angst and smut and depression and some "mild" (repeat, M-I-L-D, including some murder scenes) violence. Moderate swearing. And it's quite long.**

**Note, warning on rape scenes.**

**Most of it is Len-centric. VERY Len-centric. (Do not expect anything else from a fangirl.)**

**If you're a strong believer in honour and justice or the type that's looking for stories with satisfactory endings I'd suggest you quit reading this, or if you want to read this just for the smut content then go ahead, you're welcome.**

**…Wait, wait. I forgot to mention the most important bit. This story is an AU remix of Akuno-P's Servant of Evil on a more modern note.**

**Meow, cheers.**

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'Len. Why do you hang out with those girls?'

They were curled up under the blankets smushed in between the pillows, like cats in a basket, snug and warm.

She contemplatively nibbled on the tip of his collar as she clung to him a bit like a salamander did to a tree. This was one of her recent things. Thinking back, she'd done some ridiculous stuff she wouldn't mention right now... among others. Just some memories.

His latest fetish in turn seemed to be messing with her hair. The tip of his tongue wet the upper edge of her forehead now and again. He distinctly reminded her of a cat. Round and round in damp twirls, he fiddled with a lock of her flaxen hair, while his fingers pressed bingo sheets along the pressure points in her back. She occasionally squirmed and shifted in discomfort when he pressed too hard, but otherwise consented by unsaid agreement.

Well, they would probably be weird seen from a third observer, but there was no one to point that out in the confines of their shared room. No one to see and make fun of them. Anyway if they did, whoever they may be, they were going to have hell to pay and a good bonus dent in their head from her.

This wasn't some sort of sibling romance. Pssh – heck no. He was her bolster, end of story. Her very convenient bolster that kept her company when she talked to it and calmed her to sleep with its soft snoring and smelt just right and was wonderfully warm in chilly winter nights. The only drawback was that it often complained and talked too much, but it wasn't intolerable.

Hardly.

She jutted the top of her head against the bottom of his jaw impatiently, prompting for an answer. He nuzzled the top of her head in reply. She urged him again, nudging her nose into the soft hollow of his throat.

She could feel the slight shift along his neck, and knew that his usual infuriating smirk was spreading across his face.

'Why? Any problem with that, Rin?'

'Humph.'

'What?'

'...Nothing.'

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**You can ignore the next bit if you want.**

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**_Puss, in some random place long, long ago_**

_She laughed happily, staring at the butterfly in her net. It had pretty black and blue-green wings that glittered in the sun. It fluttered about delicately, with spindly legs and feelers and fur at its collar. She pinched it out of the net with awkward juvenile fingers and studied it in fascination._

_She popped it into her transparent butterfly cage. It fell into the bottom, flailing about flapping its wing. The other half of its torn wing fluttered down after it and draped itself motionlessly on the floor of the cage. She shut the lid with a snap._

_'Now now, be gentle with it.'_

_'Why?' It could fix back its wing with tape, or glue. It wasn't angry at her for being put in there. It wasn't even complaining. First of all it didn't talk._

_The butterfly crawled about on the bottom of the cage, its trembling wing shimmering prettily. She plucked some flowers and leaves and dropped them into the cage, along with a tiny container of water. Now it had a little diorama all to itself._

_She left it on top of the shoebox for everyone else to see when they came home. The very first butterfly she'd caught all by herself: she was proud._

_But they said, 'Let it go,' in their over-bearing adult voices, so she reluctantly took it outside once more and set it gently on a plant outdoors. It clung fragilely to a waxy leaf, beating its wing weakly. It still had work to do and it knew that._

_It started to rain, so she hurried back indoors._

_The next morning when she went back to check the butterfly was gone, nowhere to be seen. She stared up at the blue sky in wonder._

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**Review plus fav with a pretty please, meow? :3**

**Thanks for reading.**


	2. Prologue

**Meow. (For a change - I'm getting bored of "hais".)**

**By the way – the previous chapter was quite random. :P The passage had very little to do with the mainline story actually. But as you'd know, we aren't allowed to upload author notes on their own. ;P**

**Timeslip, going back in time about eleven years from the scene in the previous chapter.**

**Please assume that Rin and Len were born on the same date as the initial release date of their ACT2 models.**

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**PROLOGUE – THE IRON GATE**

**_Summer, 2011_**

The hot afternoon sun poured a melting flood of heat haze down on the arced pavement behind the scalding iron bars of the Gate. The blinding white _Houses_ loomed up from the arched ground, their bases blurry, giving the illusion of floating boxes. It was a strange and sinister world stretching out inside there, painted all grey and white and bleak black.

On the other side of the Gate was his home: _trees_ and verandas and comfortable shades. On the grassy planes of the spacious Outdoors, there was the bright congregation of architecture built from multi-coloured pieces of odd-shaped parts, all linked together in intricate bumps and bends. There was a green entrance archway beside the large tree with a hollow in its roots, and a ladder leading up to the platform and an orange exit chute. There were ground-level hollows, and large roofless salons and bridges and tunnels to climb through. He could navigate his way through these structures with his eyes closed.

The hollow in the roots was interesting. It always had a pool of this sticky, gooey substance in it that had a distinctive bitter-sweet-sour stink. His sister seemed to think the insects that got stuck in it were gross, but he thought they were funny. They flailed their horny legs around and buzzed very noisily, which seemed to get them stuck in the goo worse than before. Sometimes he wondered why they were so stupid.

There was a square space of fine gritty sand on the west end of the planes. He sometimes dug trenches or built hills and miniature hollows and valleys in it, when he got bored because the girls weren't around.

The indoors didn't really have that much worth mentioning. When you went in through the twin Doors you found yourself in this long corridor with drab bluish walls stuck with occasional big posters and weird distorted flowers, lined with lots of similar arthritic doors that were creepy at night. There was a big shiny brown desk they called the Front, and a large heavy door behind it where the Visitors from inside the Gate went into when they came.

When the Visitors came they shut the door. He didn't know because he had never been in there, but one or two residents from the rooms along the corridor would go in too, and came out after a while looking peaky or fluffy. Some of them left soon after, in rumbling cars that parked themselves inside the Gate.

Most of the residents were "girls". Apparently, though they didn't look it.

He didn't like mornings, especially the weird boring white mush the Blue Ladies handed out for Breakfast. The plastic chairs were tucked under the long splintery wooden tables where everyone sat down to eat. He preferred staying up late even after the sun had gone down, but apparently he wasn't allowed to do that, so he went to bed and stayed awake staring at the moonlit ceiling striped with shadows from the window grilles. His daily schedule was pretty much the same every day: he got changed in the morning and was sent out for Breakfast, and then they were trooped outside to the Outdoors, and then they came back in for Snack and then Nap, and spent some time in the Playroom while they took turns being taken into the Showers, and then had Supper and got sent to their rooms. To him the showers were a real soggy slippery slightly painful nightmare.

He also didn't like toothbrushes. They were rude.

The "others" slept together in the big room where they had naps, but for some reason he and his sister had a little room with two beds all to themselves. He wished they could go sleep with the others in the big room as well. There was plenty of space to spare in their room, but no one ever moved in. It sometimes got lonely.

One of the Blue Ladies always fussed around in the room he and his sister slept in. She seemed to like him a lot, and snuck him treats often. His favourite was a rare treat called _chocolate_, brown and hot and deliciously sweet in a mug. The Blue Lady made him some when he behaved good and made her happy. He wasn't boasting, but he seemed to be the one who got mugs of hot chocolate the most frequently. Although he felt nasty the next morning feeling weird and stiff all over and slightly sick, a surprise treat of chocolate was never unwelcome.

It was strange that one never remembered when they fell asleep, but it seemed to work that way, and that was that.

That was pretty much everything about his life, nothing else much worth mentioning… And oh, he had a twin sister. They were _Identical_ and some of the Blue Ladies seemed to have trouble telling them apart.

Rin hated insects, and liked messing with water taps. Unlike him she didn't like big open spaces, so he had his Secret Hideout all to himself. His Secret Hideout was this square concrete box-space surrounded in tall stone walls, much higher up than the tallest tower in the Outdoor Playhouse, without a roof. The rooms they stayed in were under the concrete floor there, straight under his feet when he stood. He'd found it when he'd climbed this dusty hidden staircase next to the Toilet.

His Blue Lady often complained about his socks being all dirty, but he pretended not to know why. The floor of his Secret Hideout got very hot on sunny days, so he didn't like taking his socks off.

On the other hand he didn't like small closed spaces like Rin did. He liked the way there was no roof in his Hideout, because he could greet his friend each time he climbed up there. His friend had different moods depending on the day: she was sometimes grey, sometimes bright blue, sometimes cloudy and occasionally a very pretty pink or orange with yellow, red and purple streaks. He felt good in an indescribable way when he stared up at her. He'd talk about all sorts of stuff and she'd listen, like the weird Cars that passed by the Gate and how they stank, or how awesome that "Road-roller" he'd seen in there had been, or which girl came over from in there to play with him today and what she said and did, or how she purred and liked being petted, or how she didn't like getting wet just like him or how her kittens were really fluffy and cute.

Kittens. There were loads of them.

Rin was bossy and fussy and looked very much like him, except that she liked pink. He preferred yellow and blue, and that was a common topic they squabbled over.

Right now they'd just finished Breakfast and were Outdoors doing whatever they chose to do. Rin was piling stones over there by the corner of the Wall. He stared in fascination at a reflection of himself in the smoky glass pane; large sky-blue eyes that took up nearly one third of his face blinked back at him, with cheery pink clouds under them, and a small shoulder outline that shrugged when he shrugged his, and pale yellowish hair that fluffed out when the wind ruffled his.

He tilted his head sideways in mild wonder, studying the blurry purple butterfly smudged in his left cheek. This morning it looked a bit bleaker. Last time it'd stopped on his shoulder and was a dark red-purple colour. It appeared one random morning, and then left very quickly, like the falling raindrops when they disappeared into the ground. Fascinating.

He jerked his gaze away as a bush behind him suddenly rustled. 'N-Naro…!?'

She streaked out from under the thick leaves, pointed ears pinned flat to her head, her eyes open so wide their whites were visible. Her dark tabby stripes were a mere blur. With a cry close to a shriek she leapt past him and scrambled up the tree he was sitting beside, disappearing among the branches. He peered up into the tree in bewilderment, trying to look for her. 'Naro?' he called uncertainly.

There was a sharp hiss, followed by a deep, unidentifiable growl behind him.

He spun around. The next moment his heart leapt into his mouth.

He couldn't find his voice – he just stared frozen in terror at the huge black nightmare that had flown over the Gate, landing heavily right in front of him. Its yellow fangs were huge, bared and visible in its wide long mouth, something slimy trailing from its bottom lip. Its tattered, scarred hide stretched taunt over its rippling muscles, the bones protruding hideously from its sides, ridged spine coiled tense with quivering sinew, cracked razor claws clogged with fur, plastered a dark and sticky red– His gaze jerked upwards.

Its eyes– its _eyes_. Burning, molten hatred. Fury and thirst and raving hunger. They had no interest in anything. They were going to lunge, and clamp down on his throat. Nothing was going to stop them. Bite, tear, sate. They said so. They were mad. They didn't see anything.

But they weren't looking at him.

A gruesome growl ripped from its deep lungs.

'R- Rin…!' His voice was hoarse, trembling.

She didn't hear him, too intent in her task. She hummed on cluelessly, pausing to pick up a small stone that tumbled off the top of her pile, frowning in annoyance.

_Rin!_

She flinched. Her head jerked towards his direction.

Her eyes went round.

She didn't move. Her face was completely white as she trembled like ice.

'Rin…'

A scream blotted out the next growl.

The thing's huge head swivelled around towards the source of the sound, followed by its claws and then its wiry body. The scream had come from one of the Blue Ladies. The next moment he found himself scrambling towards Rin without knowing why. She was frozen, shaking all over. People came running towards them from all sides.

She clutched his shoulder and he clutched hers, screwing their eyes shut in fear at the explosion of noise that followed. Like sounds he'd never heard before – up to every thunderous footfall and coarse yell, and a constant, wordless snarling that clawed at his eardrums. Something foreign, so many… Overwhelming.

And then it was all over, in no time at all that was like forever.

'Thank the Lord… You're alright.' A hand landed gently on the top of his head, touching his cheek and then his back.

He wasn't listening.

She'd almost got hurt… He'd almost…

Big tears were swelling in his eyes. His shoulders trembled. She squeezed his hand and blinked several times, still looking stunned.

'Rin,' he mumbled.

She patted his shoulder reassuringly like the adults did, like she was telling him there was nothing to be scared of. But she didn't get the point. He was scared, but not scared, not in that way. He wanted to cry when he looked at her.

He only looked up when something quietly stirred outside their world.

She'd slithered down from her refuge up in the branches, watching him with wary green eyes. When he stretched out his fingers, she slowly came towards him nose-first, like she always did.

Something wasn't right.

'Naro… Naro?' She limped along, dragging herself, and then slumped on the ground, sides heaving. What was wrong? Why wasn't she getting up? Why was her side all coloured red? Why was it so… _distorted_?

He crawled over to her. She didn't move. He stayed there for a long while – or maybe it had been short. Her sides gradually stopped quivering. Her pelt was colder than usual when he touched her. Like it was being chilled from the inside, rather than warmed. Why was she so cold? The sun was up. The air was sweltering. She was so weirdly out of place in here.

And then large, careless hands suddenly peeled her off the ground and took her away. Another hand led him in the opposite direction before he could stop them. He tottered off, in a daze. 'Come. Go wash your hands.'

His hands? Why?

He stared down at his own palms and found them streaked with copper. Weird.

'Don't you worry now, yes? They'll get rid of that thing for sure.'

He turned at the commotion still raging on, further away now just outside the Gate.

Yelps and barks and whines of furious indignation. It looked less intimidating that way. They had some sort of metal ring stuck round its neck, attached to a long pole. They were trying to push it into a large, tall, square white car that seemed to be spewing out ash-coloured fumes just by staying there, turning the air murky. The bitter acid stink made his eyes water.

As the double-doors of the white car finally banged shut, everything concluded, like the ending of a storybook. The evil monster was gone, and life went back to haven happily ever after.

He stared in muteness at the end of the Road where the car had vanished. Why…

It'd looked so scared.

It was huge and black and fierce – but it'd looked so _scared_. Whatever it had been.

If it was scared, why didn't it run? It wasn't like it was terrified stiff, only scared desperate.

Where had it gone to? How did you "get rid of" that thing? It was huge and moving and solid and fearsome and so _alive_. It might have killed Rin. It would have. It almost did. It felt so wrong for it to be trapped in a box.

And where had they taken Naro? He was worried about her.

He heard a familiar small mewl from inside a bush. A tiny, pink, furry black nose pushed itself out from among the brambly branches, round green eyes staring unblinkingly at him with their usual disdain. Where was his mother? He could smell her – but she wasn't here.

The kitten's ears flattened at the unfamiliar scent of blood.

He broke into a smile. 'Hello Lyn.'

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**Yup. Please feel free to make any assumptions you will.**

**Ahemm. Revised, I meant except the assumption that Lyn is biologically related in any way to Len.**

**Review, please? With a fluffy drop-dead-adorably imploring meooow? :3 (Just kidding, I'm not that adorable. xD)**


	3. Part 1 (High School, Bananas & Spices)

**Meow! **

** Finally… Chapter One. I can't believe the prologue was longer.**

**By the way, has this ever happened to your fics before? (below.) It's darn annoying. **

_div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"hr style="color: #a0a0a0;" align="center" noshade="noshade" size="1" width="100%" /div_

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**PART 1 (RIN) – HIGH SCHOOL, BANANAS &amp; SPICES**

**Approximately eleven years later.**

1.

**_End of January, 2022_**

Len came home from school later than usual that day.

Rin looked up from her pumpkin pastry as he walked into the kitchen, looking irritable. His yellow hair was as messy as it had been forever, maybe more than usual today. She immediately noticed his new earrings; this morning they'd been dark blue crescents, but now they were purple butterflies. They were a nice glossy black, with glittery purple patterns. She always wondered where he got all his earrings – there was quite a collection in his bedroom drawer next to hers. If she opened it she would probably find half of it occupied with earrings, the other half she could only just imagine what.

'So…, anything new?' she asked him as he wrenched open the cabinet, grabbed the coffee tin and measured out several teaspoons of dark brown powder – more like gravelly lumps, in her opinion – into a large lemon mug. 'Anything… _interesting_ at school today?'

'Hmm.'

'Nice earrings. Butterflies, huh?'

'Whatever.'

'_Again_?'

'Yes.'

'You got dumped?'

'No.'

'You dumped her?'

'Yes.'

'Who this time?'

'Meiko.'

Rin gagged. '_Meiko_? But she's a _Sixth_ Grader. She's… _How old is she_?' What the hell. She discreetly coughed up flakes of pumpkin-mixed pie.

'_So_? Stop making a fuss of everything.'

'The usual thing? _Again_?'

'Duh.'

'You're gonna get your taste numbed again if you add any more than that,' she commented drily as he added a seventh teaspoon of coffee powder into his mug. She remembered he used to like cocoa, but he'd switched to coffee after he threw up drinking chocolate several years ago, and had never touched any since. He'd never told her why, so she assumed it was something to do with the trauma of puking.

'Whatever.'

Len irritably jabbed the **_Pour_** button and filled his mug to the brim, sploshing out a little of the thick contents over the counter. With a sigh, he sat down beside Rin and sipped his steaming drink. He relaxed down into his wooden chair.

'This time it came _really_ close – like – _this_ much,' he gushed blandly, pinching a quarter inch of air between his thumb and index finger. He flicked his tongue about with a grimace like he'd just found something slimy in his mug. Nothing less unpleasant than a newt, judging by the look on his face. 'I had to knock her out.'

'…Ah.'

'With a _pillow_. And she got me bloody almost nicked for that.'

'Oh – Ouch.'

Len sighed again. 'So I had to un-arrest myself again – whatever. The garbage. That's about it. Did I miss out anything?' He folded over flat on the table with a dull bonk.

She nodded once. He was undeniably good at that kind of stuff, though she didn't particularly agree with some of his methods. 'So you quit on her.'

'Obviously.'

Rin shook her head exasperatedly. Len had been doing the same old thing for the past year and a half or so.

It all started when Len broke up with Miku, the Third Grader with pretty turquoise hair who he'd been going out with for about one and a half years, since Elementary school. He'd _seemed_ very close to her, but the very next day he got hooked up with a new girl somehow, only to break up less than a month later. From then on he kept going out with new girls in increasingly erratic intervals; nowadays he seemed to be breaking up at least twice a week (pardon her exaggeration but it felt like it), and each and every time he went off to buy new earrings when that happened, like an idiosyncratic time-out. Rin had given up trying to keep track of his life when she lost count after the first twelve or so, and she had an impression Len didn't remember either.

Everyone knew Len was Miss Vogue (and a big bold WTF to that), even though he was a First Grader. The thing was that for some reason – of course, there was no one below First Grade in school – he usually ended up with girls older than him. For a while that would be fine, but then things would go just like the usual damned scenario; those were the drawbacks of dating a Sixth or Seventh Grader, nowadays Fifth and Forth as well. They'd decide he wasn't old enough for them after all, according to him – though Rin personally thought Len wasn't old enough to even start going out with girls (that-weren't-friends) – and then there would be the usual _yucky_ breakup scene (though she never made sense of what he was trying to explain), and then Len would come home a bit late again with a new pair of earrings and occasionally mushed up hair and the sort looking extremely irritable, and go swimming in a mug of saturated caffeine. It had almost become like a monthly cycle for him: find a girl, kiss her, break up, and flush it out with caffeine. Rin would usually just make sure he wasn't too messed up before returning to her own routine.

To summarise, she more or less thought the whole issue was very stupid.

She herself had a huge crush on a hot Sixth Grader with gorgeous dark blue hair, called Kaito – it was no big secret, and she's given up denying it to Len quite a while ago. Len in turn had grown bored of making a big girly fuss over it. The only problem was that Kaito didn't like her back, and instead he liked someone else, another Sixth Grader. And the ironic thing was that – as she only recently found out – the subject of his attention was the same girl who'd tried to mess with her brother today.

'How old is she?' she asked Len, slightly annoyed. 'How on earth did you end up with her anyway?' She wrenched a bag of crisps open and viciously chomped on a handful. Even Kaito – whom she thought was pretty hot, obviously – was having trouble with making the girl even look his way for more than two seconds, though she had to admit she wasn't too unhappy about that.

He shrugged. 'Don't ask me. I've absolutely no idea.' He yaawned.

'You know, you don't have to be nice every girl who wants to go out with you,' she snapped in irritation. 'Just say fucking no like everyone else does. You realise there's this weird trend going on that you get part of the spotlight when you hang out with Miss Populars?' Rin rapped a knuckle on his head. 'Only there's something wrong with you that makes their brains go bonkers when they do. I think you should quit.'

Len sighed. 'And then it'll be the _usual_. Stop calling me Miss.'

'The usual, huh?'

'Yup, just like the last time, and the one before that,' he droned tonelessly like he was reciting a textbook extract. For all she knew he _was_.

'When was that? The last time I recall was several centuries ago. Maybe the traditions might have changed a little?' she replied sarcastically.

'I don't really feel like giving it a try. …I'm bored of this talk. Remember the last time I did that I had to deal with _two_ girls at once and a bunch of _friends_ and needed to be _rescued_ by Mi– …whatever.'

_Allegedly_, retold by Len. But he always made things sound more dramatic than they really were. No one else in school seemed to ever discuss that subject; in fact they rarely discussed anything concerning him other than his non-existent and to-die-for adorable cat ears. 'You're sooner or later gonna end up having a breakup history with every girl in school. Alright honestly – you're terrible. Do you even see them as people?'

'People, who act like objects. Can we stop this weird interview?'

Rin ignored him and paused for a moment, trying to figure that out. 'That doesn't make much sense.'

Len sighed exaggeratedly for about the one hundredth time. 'Meaning, they think they're like objects which I'm okay with dumping and getting a new one in less than an hour, or _I'm_ being treated like an object.'

'Exactly. A very convenient sex object.' Why didn't he see that? He had to wake up some time.

He took a large swig of coffee. 'Hmm. Nicely said. True, that.' His expression suggested he was thinking otherwise. 'You mean a cardboard cat.'

'So… Who're you going out with next?' Rin teased with a half-hearted smirk.

'It's not like _I_ choose. I'm tired of stupid romance and drama. I think this time I'm officially gonna quit.'

Somehow, he always said that, and the next morning she'd find him cheerfully chatting away with girls. She rolled her eyes. 'Good for you. You seriously need a break.'

'I do indeed. Do you mind if I take the couch?'

'Go ahead.'

'_Thanks_.' Len slumped off to the sofa and threw himself into a pile of cushions, burying his head under two of them.

'Goodnight,' called Rin. The reply was a muffled groan.

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**Yeah, it's a slow start. With slow progress. This is chapter one. xP  
Review, please, if you liked it? :3 Hopefully no spelling mistakes?**


	4. Chapter 2

**Yess yes yes yes OMG I'VE FINALLY FOUND THE OFFICAL FF FANDOM FOR VOCALOID! Why the hell did I never look under the Misc. section? Urgh.**

**Meow.**

**Soo, here comes Chapter 2 (officially the fourth chapter but just forget that, hmm?) Enjoy– Alright, it's depressing and isn't exactly the stereotype of "enjoyable", I know. Whatever.**

**Cheers.**

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2.

**_–About a year ago–_**

_There was a shift in the world, as if the angle of its gravity had suddenly changed. The whole room spun around him, and then tilted back down to rest in its original position, just leaving a dull pounding in the side of his skull where he sat leaning heavily into his backrest._

_'_Oh_,' was all the reaction he could manage._

_Right…?_

_It took about another minute or two for his brain to fully process the piece of ridiculously simple information. The man sitting in the spinning chair opposite him waited patiently with a slight bitter twist at the corner of his mouth._

_'Oh,' he repeated, slower this time. 'Well, I suppose…'_

_He felt strangely detached, devoid of emotions. He felt weird: like he had grown heavier and lighter at the same time. Most of all he felt… calm. Calm, and bored, as one would feel when they'd exhaled a large sigh after stopping halfway through a complicated bit of mathematics to find that the whole equation was wrong. In a way this was an upset equation, but unlike mathematics it had no logical laws._

_Or perhaps it was simply that he couldn't find the line of logic in it._

_He stared again at the piece of printing still held in his hand and read it carefully once more, although he didn't know what it was he wanted to read in it. Perhaps he wanted it to be an interpretation mistake. Or perhaps he felt he had to read it again to believe it. …They were both the same thing._

_The printed figures were as sound and plain as before. Well, he hadn't been expecting it to alter like magic. He'd expected worse of course… alright he hadn't, but that was that and not worth complaining about._

_'Do you get people like this often?' he asked quietly._

_The man tilted his head solemnly in acknowledgement. The answer was obvious, what with his profession._

_'What do they say? Do _you_ say anything?'_

_'Well. It's best not to pry into personal matters…'_

_'True.'_

_'…How old are you?'_

_'Thirteen.'_

_They both fell silent, each for different reasons._

_After leaving an appropriately sympathetic margin the man broke the suspension by asking, 'Do you still want to keep to your decision? I'd personally say it isn't an advisable course of action.'_

_'Yes.' Obviously._

_'Well, I'd very much like to object to that…'_

_'It's _my_ decision.'_

_'Your parents…?'_

_'No.'_

_'Oh?'_

_'Um… Thank you,' he said robotically, as he stood to leave. He tottered slightly._

_'Would you like to sit down for a while? There's a vending machine outside.'_

_'No I'm fine, thanks.'_

_'If you say so… Are you sure? You look pale.'_

_He carefully folded the paper and made to put it in his grey-and-yellow sling bag – stuck with cat appliques – and then thought better of it and took it out again. He held it out towards the man, who was removing his black-framed spectacles. 'You know what, I don't think I want this. Can you burn this for me? Just pretend I never came here.'_

_He walked away towards the door and then turned around one more time, and smiled. 'I'll see you in two years' time, if you remember? I hate red geraniums yeah? Don't you dare or I'll curse you to hell,' he laughed, pointing at the vase sitting on a shelf in the corner._

_The man smiled politely in reply, tucking the paper into the drawer in his desk._

_'I'll probably see you down there if you do come, of course,' he added._

_The man looked slightly worried. 'Don't feel so negative about your life. Even if it's short.'_

_'Ahh. You don't know me.'_

_On the way home he dropped by the game centre, something he rarely ever did. He appreciated the lax warm air of the early summer, even voluntarily stopping by to cringe at an adorable-looking frog in a hydrangea bush. He felt a lot calmer than he had in a long while; deadlines didn't necessarily harass you, it seemed._

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**Sorry for the drastic changes in chapter lengths. And sorry for screwing up the sense of time. This chapter is another flashback.**

**Really hope you enjoyed, though – review, please? ;3**


	5. Chapter 3

**Meow.**

**Okay, okay, note: The Vocaloids in here aren't their canon characters. At all – if there _is_ such a thing as "canon" for Vocaloids. In other words, THIS IS A PERSONALITY-GONE-AU-FIC So no flamers please, at least not for the swearing and makeup.**

**I'd be happy enough receiving flamers on other stuff, though, thanks.**

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3.

The next morning Rin woke up to find she was nearly late for school. She jumped out of bed and tumbled into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She grabbed the tawny liquid eyeliner bottle, fumbling with it. She swore when her fingers slipped and she dropped it into the sink.

What? Fourteen and already using makeup? Fuck off. She did what she wanted to.

Len poked his tousled head in through the gap in the door. 'What's up? We're gonna be late for school – you need help with that?'

'Len, can't you knock before you come into a bathroom with a girl occupying it?' she said irritably.

'Hmm. Technically speaking I'm not exactly _in_ it at the moment. Here, pass me that.' He held out a hand for the eyeliner. Rin carelessly combed her hair while he attempted to pry the pointed cap open with forever-neat fluorescent yellow nails. He swore too and picked it open with the hooked end of a nail file.

'You mind if I use first?'

'Hmm. Just hurry up.'

Len was done in less than ten seconds anyway. 'How do you always get it right so fast?' Rin asked him in annoyance as she struggled to steady her hand with the thin brush suspended in mid-air, taking twice the time he did. Len was so impatient that she always got it wrong with him telling her to hurry up from behind.

He shrugged. 'Because I'm not fussy.'

Fussy or not, they looked darn perfect. It wasn't fair; _she_ was supposed to be the girl, not Len. The blasted strange thing was that using eyeliner actually served to _not_ worsen his appearance, which seemed rather wrong because he was a boy. He actually looked… well, pretty in it, which sounded _very_ wrong. The bottomline was, it sounded wrong, but it suited him. Everything he ever did was feminine – makeup, shopping, fangirling, his earrings – but they somehow felt natural. For all Rin knew he would probably still look sane standing at a concierge in a Barbie-pink puffball skirt, if he pretended he was a girl.

It just wasn't fair. How was it her_ brother_ was prettier than her? Twin or no. That shouldn't be logically possible unless she was inexpressibly hideous. Personally she didn't want to believe that, neither did she think that was the case, looking at herself in the mirror (she wasn't being narcissistic – she knew herself, that was all). Whatever was wrong was with Len, not her.

To give a closer description, he had washed-out-gold locks that stuck out all over the place like a feather duster and delicate mannequin hands with fingers that looked prettier in manicures, a waist probably thinner than hers and pointed shoulder blades and fucking spindle Cinderella ankles. He walked like a cat with its tail stuck straight in the air, was otherwise very clumsy when he didn't care, and (for this, Rin was one of a very limited few to know) looked like a freshly deflowered shota when he came out of the bath in his pyjamas despite being fourteen. His eyes though the same shape were often narrower than hers like tapering blue plastic almonds, accented with Lunasol eyeshadow, and went bigger and sparklier than Queen Elsa's only when he wanted something.

How in hell did her twin brother turn into a "straight" teenage boy with shoulder-length blonde hair – _tied_ up with a pink rubber-band? She had no idea. But he somehow still looked like a boy.

He finished off with his transparent gloss, and pinned on his earrings, little snow peas about the size of her smallest fingernail complete with tiny white flowers.

They hurried downstairs with their schoolbags, Len drowsily tripping on the stairs. She laughed and ignored his clumsy curses. How very pleasant, first thing in the morning before even saying good morning.

Mum was already downstairs at the table reading a newspaper over her plate of buttered toast. Her thick, wavy auburn hair was done up in a neat bun at the back, and she was in her working suit. She had her usual lipstick and makeup on, with natural-pink blush that sometimes made her look more like a teenager than a woman. Rin sometimes liked to think of her as a kind of big sister. It was nice to have a Mum this young _and_ pretty – everyone at school envied her. Mum peered up as they came down. 'Good morning. You're late today – you'll need to hurry or you'll be late for school.'

'Yeah,' Rin said. 'Morning, Mum.' Len mumbled something similar behind her. 'Breakfast?' he turned to her and asked with a big yawn.

Oh, right. Breakfast… 'Nevermind. I can't be bothered,' she muttered.

He made a sound close to snorting and trotted off to the kitchen.

'You don't need to go to work?' Rin asked Mum. She nodded absently. 'I do. Don't worry, I don't need to be there at seven today. Be careful when you cross the road, okay?'

Rin rolled her eyes. 'I'm not an Elementary kid, Mum. I'm four and a half feet tall, not three feet.'

'Alright, if you say so. Be careful anyway.'

'Another car accident?' Len asked mildly, peering into Mum's newspaper as he trotted past them. He narrowed his eyes in disgust.

'Yes. It's really tragic. Two children were hit by a car… Terrible, isn't it? Their parents…'

Len shook his head with a snort. 'Cuckoo.'

Mum frowned at him. 'Don't say that. It might very well have been you,' she told him sternly. Rin smirked.

'Sorry.' However he didn't look very much like he meant it.

She didn't know exactly why, but her friends all said they envied her house like hell. To Rin it didn't look particularly unusual: square and white and two-storey high (with a dusty half-storey attic), with a small not-so-neat bramble-hemmed garden with a yellow rose bush, topped with a tiled triangular brown roof that made it resemble a ginormic slab of tiramisu cake. After all, she'd lived here all her life so she couldn't compare it. She sometimes thought it was somewhat larger than most of her friends' houses but she didn't really count that as a merit, since a large house only meant more distance to walk to get from one room to another. There were three washrooms, two upstairs and one downstairs and a bathroom further in on the ground floor. She'd never bothered to count the number of black-framed windows large and small scattered on all sides of the house. There was a wood-and-tile kitchen and a small pantry, two bedrooms and a big storeroom, a living-slash-dining with two sofas and a regular flatscreen TV and the usual furniture, a wooden-railed staircase and a descending ladder leading up to the attic. She couldn't see what was so _lavish_ about it – none of them were stuff people could go without. (One of her friends had once pinkly said she liked the concept of _two _bedrooms, but Rin hadn't quite gotten why.) Oh, and they had a car in the garage. A Peugeot-something with a cute face she didn't bother to know, but everyone else had a car too.

She wished Mum would allow sleepovers; it was no fun not being able to invite her friends over during the holidays. They could visit of course, but not overnight, apparently. She was annoyed that Len had so enthusiastically agreed with Mum – the only girl he'd allow in their room after six was her.

But then and again, she hadn't seen another male in the house except Dad for so many years she couldn't remember when the last time was. So much that she'd decided Len probably left territorial scent markings all round the garden or something. (That would explain the abundance of she-cats.)

Rin opened the front door and trotted out into the frigid winter air, puffing out clouds of white breath. Needless to say the roses weren't in bloom, more or less covered in a slick jacket of frost. What a shame. The garden looked bleak and bleary without them. She stuck her hands in her light down orange pockets and pulled up her hood, teeth chattering. She tucked in her pink knitted scarf with woolly white rabbits marching along its length (she was horrible at crocheting and those kind of headache-inducing stuff but Len incomprehensibly was quite fond of them). She scowled at the way her sweater fluffed out at the front, and pulled it out again.

She remembered she'd once messed with the rose bush during early Elementary. She'd experimentally poured ink in the ground to see if the flowers would come out black. The whole plant more or less had, but of course not in the intended way. She'd told Mum it was Len in her panic and was quite surprised when he didn't protest. He'd never said why, so she'd assumed it was one of those immature and annoying see-I'm-more-grown-up-than-you impulses.

She turned round for Len; he was still at the doorway.

'Bye Mum. Love you.' He swiftly pecked Mum on the cheek and hurried out after Rin. How sickeningly lovely. She scowled at him as he caught up. He noticed her scowl. 'What?'

'You're disgusting.'

'Thanks. Oh, by the way…' he carelessly dug his hand in his bag and handed her a banana. 'Eat.'

'…'

School was pretty much the same that day and boring as ever. Especially as the daily curriculum drew closer to its end, Rin shot occasional, increasingly impatient glances at the clock on the wall throughout the lessons, mind wandering to the school gate, willing the stupid fat needle to move faster.

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**...Hmm. That was kind of dull... just a general continuation to the first chapter, I guess. :/ Thanks for reading.**

**Review, please? :3**


	6. Chapter 4 - Some Rotten Cheese

**Meow.**

**Sorry (actually no), too lazy to add any forenotes. There isn't much to explain on this. No more rants, I still have too much neglected fangirling left to do...**

**Yes, yes, my writing is boring. Go ahead and say, better out than in... Hmm. Wait, who was it that said that again? It sounds reallyreallyreally familiar, like from some famous movie. Someone do me a favour and tell me? :3**

**...Whatever. I forgot to upload this last week - enjoy.**

**And oh - damn all the stupid grammatical errors to Hell Number Nine for me? ;D Thanks, I'm aware of their existence.**

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4.

'Hi, Meiko,' the guy said. He sounded nervous. 'You're looking good today.'

Rin watched him from behind, by the school gate. She always looked forward to these few minutes here after school when classes got boring. She had her face turned down so she appeared to be thumbing her phone screen, but her eyes were riveted to the guy obliviously chatting ahead on the path with a few of his friends (pray don't call this stalking, this was maybe but it wasn't). Her heartbeats hitched slightly as he smiled at something.

Damn, that smile.

He was wearing a navy and white winter jumper on top of his black uniform shirt today, and sleek sable trousers – quite scanty in cold weather, she couldn't help noticing. He had his trademark blue scarf on like always. He'd be on his last year at school soon: he looked little different from a teacher. …Only they weren't as cheerful or hot or s– ahem, well. That reminded her – he was going up to Seventh Grade in a few months: and that meant she'd miss him from next year onward… He'd graduate, and then he was going to leave.

And then she'd never see him again? …No, she wouldn't think about that for now.

She remembered the day she'd met him with a hint of nostalgia. It was a few weeks after she'd entered First Grade. The seniors had been playing dodgeball in the courtyard, and she'd been walking by when the stupid ball hit her in the head. He'd rushed up to her and… Ah. It was embarrassing to think about. There was Len at the side of course with an icepack, but she'd been too preoccupied to listen to him, gone all dreamy and vague and pink in the school infirmary. Her face was so hot that Len went to borrow a thermometer from the nurse to check if she had a fever.

His forever-gorgeous ultramarine-blue hair gleamed in the afternoon sun. His matching sapphire eyes – she could just make them out, so serene, from this distance – were staring at– were… ah. Not at Rin, of course. Like that was even possible.

_You're looking good today_. How she wished she could hear that from him said to her even once, even if it was some poltergeist of a dream. She loathed Meiko – she was smoothly taking the compliment like it was only due. Like him being nice to her was something she expected normally. Like… pfft.

As Len had pompously informed her (she hadn't admitted it of course), she was besotted with Kaito.

She'd left Len behind at the shoeboxes on the ground floor. He'd opened the cover and had had to put down his bag to pick up the avalanche of mostly sealed papers (and some other unmentionable stuff) that had tumbled out, albeit with rather a lot of cussing. Rin had just scowled and stalked away. Maybe _he_ had more than a bit to do with her frustration.

There was no way she wanted to be like him – no way, no bloody way – that was just… just disgusting, but she wished she had just a bit of his popularity. She admitted it, she wasn't at all popular, maybe she wasn't even neutral, by the looks of it sometimes she even thought everyone secretly disliked her…

Maybe she was thinking too far. She… she had friends, didn't she? Like Neru and Renka and Lily and maybe Len. No, Len was her brother. Well.

Speaking of.

'Awwh, you didn't miss me?' Len snivelled somewhere behind.

Rin sniffed in disgust and turned her back on him and his _friends_.

He laughed. 'Nahh, just kidding. We all missed you at school y'know.'

Muttered agreements, somewhat toneless.

'Don't lie,' said a familiar high voice with its constant hint of metal. 'Lemme guess, you've forgotten my name already.'

There was a pause. 'It's… umm, it started with an N, right? N… Naro– ah, _Neru_! Right?' Len pulled.

'I knew it! I knew it, you got it wrong. You liar!'

'What?' Len faltered. 'No wait – it-it's Neru. I'm sure it was Neru. Wasn't it? Yeah, definitely!'

'Hah! I can't believe you fell for that. Don't tell me you actually forgot!'

The girls giggled.

'Bet you ten I'll forget it again tomorrow? Looks like you'll have to keep reminding me... Naro.'

Rin scowled, jammed in her earphones and tuned their chattering out. Listening to them made her want to puke.

The sky was fresh and cloudless. The air was wet and dry at the same time and chill with the scent of frigid rain. It had been raining since morning up till a while ago, luckily for everyone going home. The paths were still muddy with melted frost but they wouldn't get wet. The pale sun shone from a leaning angle over the roof of the school building, tinting the whitewashed walls a creamy pastel orange.

Rin stubbornly stared ahead until she couldn't see Kaito anymore – staring straight at his back like she was hoping just staring would make him turn around, and then suddenly looking away feeling confused, then staring at him again – and then released a loud sigh. She didn't know why, she just felt like sighing. The way he looked at Meiko. He looked at her like – like… She didn't want to see Meiko there at the other end of his gaze, felt like mentally deleting her from her vision at least so she couldn't see the girl, but needless to say that was impossible. Hell the girl looked intolerably smug.

She tried sighing again. A long, heavy, calming kind of sigh. She took in several more slow breaths before straightening to go home herself.

She stopped short when her bag suddenly floated off her back with a weird lurch.

'Damn, what d'you put in there?' Miss Annoying asked ignorantly. She'd left her bunch of girls behind and veered over to the gate. Everything came in bunches with her: glitter pens, girls, bananas, pills. …And packets. Maybe.

'Get off me, Len,' Rin snapped.

'Pretty slimy,' he said, carelessly nodding ahead. He carefully slipped the canvas straps off her back and slung it over his shoulder.

'_What_?'

'Slimy,' he repeated nonchalantly. 'He's gonna regret it.'

Oh– What the h–? Rin burst into involuntary giggles. 'Is that supposed to make me feel better?' she forced herself to straighten her face and asked drily.

Len grinned. 'No. What made you think that? I was just saying, as a statement.'

'Pervert.'

'_Wha_?' he spluttered.

'I was just saying, as a statement. It's true.' She smirked. 'All that gloppiness.'

'I did _not_!' Len bawled, going red. 'Did not, so totally did not! I didn't mean _literally_!'

Rin peered at him with a well-fixed frown. 'What are you talking about, Len?' she asked coolly. 'Something rather inappropriate?' She crossed her arms in (partly) bluff contempt.

He mumbled something nonsensical and stared down at the ground, pouting.

…

Kaito, Kaito, Kaito. Ah, God.

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**Review, please? I do hope you will feel so obliged as to do so, urged by this unbelievably stupid and incomprehensible sentence.**


	7. Chapter 5

**Meow.**

**One really short chapter coming up... Meh. It kind of turned out a bit of a failure, but nevermind, as I said, this story is unnecessarily and ridiculously slow-paced.**

**Approximately some five more boring chapters or so until slight progress... I'm getting bored so I'll do a countdown. xP**

**And sorry, I did some random editing.**

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5.

Rin had a little secret.

Besides her crush on Kaito, that was, which wasn't exactly a secret because a lot of people knew.

This wasn't exactly a _secret_, either. She just didn't mention anything whatsoever about it at school or anywhere outside the house, that was all. Even in the house she only mentioned it on rare occasions, only when circumstances required; it was too normal to be worth mentioning. It was too little to be called a secret.

She wasn't particularly embarrassed about it. She'd never really considered it that way.

Of course not.

She just didn't tell anyone because she didn't want them to gape.

She casually pulled off her socks, loosened her tie, shrugged off her shirt, and then let her shorts slide down her calves and stepped out of them. She basically inelegantly stripped and dumped her clothes into the laundry basket beside the washing machine.

There was nothing out of the ordinary about that, she was going to take a bath, that was all.

She opened the sliding door and delicately stepped in onto the slightly ridged peach tiles. Inside, warm, faintly scented steam was permeating the enclosed space, rolling off the surface of the brightly coloured grass-green bathwater. It gave the whole atmosphere a kind of misty, glowing effect she always liked to appreciate; it felt very comfortable.

She pulled out the plastic stool from under the rack and unhooked the shower handle from the foggy tiled wall. Like any other usual day she proceeded to douse her flyaway flaxen hair and foam it with shampoo, wishing she had dense pretty hair like Mum.

Nowadays she'd also started using conditioner. It took a bit more time, but it made her hair smoother. The perfume smelled nice, too – a rich, honeyed, heavily sweet kind of incense.

There was a mirror on the wall she sat facing, fogged up by all the steam. She saw her own watery reflection in it, and gave a quiet sigh. Damn, talk about mannequins. If she had half the curves Meiko had by next year she'd have won the annual lottery (also counting that she was under-aged and couldn't buy a ticket).

She'd also switched to scented soap.

She pumped out a generous amount onto her big fluffy sponge and indulged herself luxuriously foaming up from head to toe. The thick, silky foam smelled sweet and pleasant. Then she washed it all down with a steaming stream of hot water. She couldn't resist the temptation and got off the stool (no, not to pose), and held the showerhead up above her head so the hot water fell all over her like a fountain. That might sound stupid but it felt gloriously, indescribably good at the end of a tiring day – she felt all that dirtiness disappear clean off her, along with the white feathery foam smoothly sliding down her length to caress her ankles.

'Seriously. How long do you take to wash your hair?' a lazy voice said from behind her.

'…

'It's none of your business,' she snapped in reply.

There was a small sneeze. 'Do you really need to use that conditioner?'

'It's mine, not yours. _You_ aren't using it so shut up.' She shook out her wet hair and combed it with her fingers, trying her best not to care and get on with her own stuff.

Len had his arms laid flat along the rim of the bathtub, with his head tilted sideways resting on his elbow. He yawned sleepily and narrowed his half-closed eyes. 'Hurry up. I'm bored.'

'Seriously? What, not enough curves for you?'

'I don't give a damn about your bony ass.'

'Then stop gawking.'

Len snorted. 'Mirror, mirror on the wall, when will I get my–'

'…Just shut up.'

'Just shut up.'

'Don't copy me.'

'Don't copy me.'

'Stop copying me.'

'Stop copying me.'

'_Shut up!_'

He grinned and splashed green bathwater at her back. She scowled.

Len yelped and spluttered as a whole load of cold water splashed him over the head. 'Fine… sorry.' He sank down under the steaming surface, meekly blowing out air bubbles.

Yes, what she didn't tell anyone was that there was this doppelganger poltergeist that followed her around everywhere she went, including the bathroom. It was just time conservation, really, all because there was only one bathroom. But she'd vowed to herself that one day when he made her cross the limits of annoyance she was going to sabotage him and broadcast this to his whole stupid fandom – _because_, seriously. Watching a girl washing up outside of Hollywood movies without even bothering to look away was just totally out of question, brother or no. –A douchebag of a brother? Heck, no.

Anyway, this was generally her everyday schedule. This was what came with living under the same roof with a cat-ear Casanova, it seemed.

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**Please review? :3**


	8. Chapter 6 - Some Lopsided Business

**Meow.**

**Well, here comes another long boring chapter... My whole week's been quite boring. :/**

**Enjoy yawning.**

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6.

Rin methodically munched her steadily-mushying piece of breakfast toast bite by bite with a flat scowl. She hated mornings. Next to her, Len drowsily gulped down his steaming coffee between huge yawns. Once in a while his head would sag forward and knock into the mug in his hands, which would almost spill coffee over him and shake him awake again.

If there was one thing Len never failed to do other than get dumped it was making sure the coffee stock didn't run out. The last time he'd run out of coffee about a year ago he'd dropped off over his cereal bowl – and spilled over himself quite messily – spat quite a lot of venomous curses and went upstairs to fetch a bottle of mysterious tablets (of course, behind Mum's back). When Rin asked out of suspicion he'd explained to her it was *** in some exotic language from SleepWalkingLand. She took it from the yawn following that it wasn't anything dangerous.

Today, his earrings were life-sized coffee beans.

Rin stirred from her mechanical consumption routine when rhythmic footsteps clattered down the wooden stairs.

Mum hurriedly spread her work papers over half the table and began to sort them into rough piles with sleep-muddled hands. She already had her makeup on, from beneath which dark smudges were just visible under her eyes. Or maybe they were eyeshadow. Or not. As usual, her makeup was quite heavy, like her job apparently required. Rin briefly considered how often she saw Mum without makeup – not so often. In her opinion Mum looked better without.

'Morning, Mum.' Len put down his coffee and peered curiously at the work papers. 'Looks complicated,' he mumbled softly. 'I hate numbers.' Rin just about decided that Mum looked tired.

'Rin, Len, you have something from the fridge for dinner, okay? I won't be around this evening,' Mum said blearily. There was nothing unusual about that – she rarely came back before eight.

'We'll wait for you,' said Len quickly. Rin nodded without paying much attention, turning back to her bowl.

– Wait, what?

Mum knocked the corners of her bundle of papers on the table. She paused to carefully insert the neat stack into her file before answering, 'No, no, you guys can have dinner first. Don't wait for me.'

'You're busy again,' Len said sulkily.

'Well, don't worry. It's alright.'

'We can call up delivery service,' he suggested brightly, glancing at Rin, then turning his buttering – _annoying_ – smile back to Mum. 'You can come home early, have dinner and then finish your work at home. It's quieter too –

'…Can't you?' He tilted his head innocently. Rin blinked at him in surprise. Len, well… Sometimes he was a bit annoying, being a total Miss Sycophant. Why on earth he did that she had no idea; it wasn't like any amount of purring was going to reduce Mum's workload.

'No, it's alright. You guys need to do your homework, right?' Mum sounded a little irritable. 'I'll just come home and eat whatever's there.'

'Pleease?'

'No.'

Len hesitated, then nonchalantly leaned forward to peer upside down at a row of minute graphs through her translucent folder. 'What time are you coming back?'

'Don't bother looking at this. It's not meant to be read anyway,' said Mum, scooping it off the table. 'Well – I don't know, probably around ten or so. It'll be very late. Don't wait for me, alright? Go to sleep first. You can't concentrate in class if you sleep too late.'

Rin glanced at Mum and added snidely, 'And you won't grow taller if you don't sleep enough.'

Mum's eyes narrowed in a frown, looking from Rin and then to Len. 'Coming to think of it you don't seem to have grown much, have you?'

Len shrugged dismissively. 'You see me every day, that's why. Don't… don't come home too late?'

'Bye Mum,' said Rin brightly.

'Bye honey – you'll be alright, yeah?' Mum said as she hurried to the door. Len ran after her and brushed a kiss on her cheek.

He'd just sat back down beside a scowling Rin when they heard the locks on the door clinkering again. A second later Mum pushed the door open and came back in, panting slightly. 'Forgot my wallet,' she explained, looking flustered.

'I'll get it. Your room, right?' Len got up from his seat again and made towards the staircase.

'Len.'

He pulled up short mid-stride and backtracked to stare at Mum with a dopey expression.

'You don't search in a lady's drawers, Len,' she said coolly. 'And don't stand while you're eating. It's fine, I'll get it myself.'

'Oh right. Sorry.' Len ducked his head sheepishly as Rin laughed.

School was pretty much the same as always. When the bell rang she hurried downstairs to wait by the school gate (ignoring Len and his belching shoebox as usual – he needed two in her opinion, one to use as a mailbox) with her phone held up like a shied to hide behind. Needless to report there was no way Kaito would notice her, or not much more than an extra iron post rooted at the side of the gate. He was talking to That Girl as usual. She sighed a total of eight times that day, eventually making Len sigh in exasperation as well. Perhaps sighs were contagious, like yawns.

And oh, they had a miniature pillow fight afterwards. Rin had a rather good time taking her stress out on whacking Len over the head and half-smothering him in a pile of pillows. He lost the fight, of course – he _always_ lost.

* * *

They took the pillows they'd brought from the living room back downstairs, and left the remaining pillows scattered all over the bedroom to deal with later. Rin pulled a few of them up onto the bed to make herself comfortable, and then dragged her school bag over from beside the desk.

Homework for today… Maths, Science, SS, PE, diary. She hated diaries. At least they didn't need to add illustrations like in Elementary anymore; that was just ridiculous. Though, it was true they now had to write more instead of drawing. She usually made up for that by making her handwriting bigger and putting large spaces between each character. It was still better than drawing, because she hated that.

Rin glanced at Len's school diary left closed on the table. Maybe she could take a quick peak inside, just for "inspiration". They more or less did the same thing after all, it wouldn't hurt if she wrote about the same events… did it? She tentatively picked it up and began to flip through the pages. She scowled at the neat rows of tiny round handwriting that looked more like printing. How Len found so much to write about everyday was quite beyond her, neither could she understand how he tolerated writing so neatly – or, his writing was just naturally small and fussy-looking like a lot of the senior girls' at school.

She couldn't help noticing the occasional flashes of colour in each page – sometimes highlighter, sometimes felt-tip and several times even glitter pen. Even the cover was decorated with cat silhouettes. She once again began to doubt that Len was perfectly sane – maybe she'd hit him round the head too hard – but then, he'd always been like this for as long as she could remember.

Well… It didn't bother her much anyway, since there was more or less no technical problem about his effeminacy. (To tell the truth it was reassuring, because she was less likely to need to worry about him getting his girlfriends in trouble.)

She was tired. She glanced at the clock – Goodness, the _time_. Mum still hadn't come home yet but she would be back soon. She didn't want to get scolded.

She'd just get a cup of cocoa (unlike Len she wasn't that fond of coffee) and then go to sleep. Speaking of, Len had gone downstairs a while ago and hadn't come back yet… maybe she should check on him. He might have drowned in the washing machine or kitchen sink while swimming with the plates and laundry. She got up from her position comfortably stretched out on his bed and opened the door.

Hmm. A pleasant, savoury aroma was spreading in the landing. Rin sniffed curiously and peered down from the top on the landing. She saw Len downstairs, perfectly sound. She was halfway down the stairs when she heard the front door open. Shucks.

'Len!' said Mum's surprised voice. 'What are you doing here?'

Rin saw him hesitate and shy against the wall. 'Um… Hi, Mum.'

'Why are you up so late? What's going on?' Mum asked suspiciously.

Len trotted forward. Rin peered lower so she could see them both. He slunk over to Mum and paused, stared at her for a bit, started forward again, caught himself once more and then tentatively gave her cheekbone a nuzzle. He pulled back a step when Mum made no reaction, and hung his head shyly.

'…I missed you,' he mumbled. 'You look very tired. Do you need to work so late?'

Up on the staircase, Rin covered her face. She felt like stomping her foot through the stair to clear the fuzz in her head.

The reply was a loud sigh, after a moment of dead silence that was probably exasperation. 'It isn't like this is the first time I left you guys alone at home – you should be used to it. I thought I told you not to wait for me.'

'…I know.'

'Look how late it is. Is Rin awake too?' Mum continued rather flatly, like she was reading out a script.

'She is– I swear! – I- I mean… um. Yeah. She's upstairs. I– we…' Rin blinked. We what?

'Is there something wrong? Did something happen? Is that why you haven't gone to bed yet?'

There was an uneasy pause. '…No. Don't mind, it's… nothing.'

'…'

'No – it's just – I thought you'd appreciate – well, something other than…'

'Well, if it isn't that important you shouldn't have stayed up. Look at the time, it's past midnight! Go upstairs and go to sleep, Len. You mustn't be awake so late. It's not good for you. Go on – that's right – good night,' Mum called

Len looked up again. 'Do you need help with the dishw–'

'_No_ Len. That's enough – go upstairs,' Mum cut him short, now sounding more than a bit frustrated, 'Before I lose my temper. I can manage myself, I don't need your help.' Her face turned slightly thoughtful. 'You seem very keen on doing chores,' she said in a gentler tone. She sounded a little strained. 'Is there something you need? You can tell me if you want anything. You mustn't sleep late.'

'No – oh no, no, I don't need anything. I just, um, wanted to help out…' Len scratched the back of his ear uncomfortably. 'We just thought you might be – um, tired, we thought…' He shifted. '…You're right, sorry.'

Another sigh. 'I'm alright Len. _I appreciate your concern _but I'd rather you didn't wait for me. Is there anything else you want to say? Go upstairs, now. You won't be able to wake up for school tomorrow – your Dad's going to be angry if you get any more detentions in your record, yes?'

'…Yes.'

'Why can't you wake up normally like your sister? Do you do anything at night – you aren't playing games, are you?'

'No, of course not.' Len laughed stiffly. 'I don't have any.'

Rin raised an eyebrow. He wanted a game set?

'I mean it – I'm trying…' he said faintly.

'Well then – you should go to sleep earlier than her if you have problems waking up, don't you think?'

'Haha…'

'I mean it! Yes, go on,' Mum practically shooed him to the foot of the staircase. Rin quickly crept back up the stairs before Mum noticed her too. She could just see them when she peered over the railing from above on the landing.

'Goodnight Mum,' said Len lightly. 'Love you.' He stretched on tiptoes to kiss Mum on the cheek, and then gave her a timid hug. Rin snuck back to the bedroom and shut the door as quietly as she could. She hurriedly switched off the lights and dove under her covers.

'There you go. Goodnight Len,' she heard Mum say.

Len slipped in through the door several seconds later.

Rin heard a heavy sigh. She heard the drawers being dragged open, then some dry scuffling and coughs. Len softly snorted after a minute or two, padded over to the bed, and like always, noiselessly clambered up over the creaky wooden frame like a cat. Rin sometimes wished she could do that too, but somehow the stupid bed always creaked when she put anything heavier than a pillow on it.

Muted, humourless laughter.

Her blanket gently shifted to cover her shoulders. Len lightly nosed her jaw. Rin kept her eyes closed. She wondered if there was anything going on with him – Other than girls, she meant.

* * *

**Yawns, everyone, goodnight sleep tight.**

**Review plus fav if you liked it, please? :3**


	9. Chapter 7 - And Again

**Meow.**

**Halloo it's been a while hasn't it. Apologies for another long break - I've been a bit preoccupied by whatnots - and crappy writing.**

* * *

7.

'Len – wake up!' Rin whacked him over the head with her pillow. He moaned and buried his face in his own pillow. Rin grabbed his shoulder. 'Wake – up – we're – gonna be – late – for school!'

Len slithered off the mattress to sit on the floor and stretched, yawning. 'Crap. What time is it? Good morning,' he yawned.

'It's past six thirty!' Rin bawled at him. 'Hurry up and get changed, you lazy bum.' What was wrong with him? She'd gone to sleep past twelve last night too, but she managed to get up alright. Len always had problems waking up in the morning, for some reason. He looked a bit like he'd died overnight.

'Six hours? Hell no wonder,' Len mumbled drowsily. He sagged against the mattress. 'I should have kept it at three…' He uttered a noise close to wheezing, and then dragged his blanket down and covered his face again.

'Wake up, you idiot. You're gonna get _me_ in detention as well – you know what, I don't care. I'm going first,' Rin snapped at him. He groaned.

She left him grumbling and went downstairs to snatch a quick breakfast. She was bored sick of bananas.

Mum was just leaving as she got to the bottom of the stairs. Spotting her, Mum smiled. 'Rin honey – I'm glad you managed to wake up. You aren't too tired, are you?'

'Mum,' Rin sighed, 'I'm not five years old. Six hours sleep is more than enough.' Unlike Len. He'd told on Mum that she was awake too last night, after all, so she didn't bother denying it. The idiot.

'Really? Good. Thanks so much for the dinner last night. That was really sweet of you guys. It was really nice – you never told me you can cook. I wouldn't have had to worry so much about your meals then. Where's Len?'

She snorted. 'Upstairs, snoring.' What dinner? Mum knew she hated cooking. Len never talked about it, either. For all he was concerned the act of edibly preparing food stuffs may never have existed. …Or maybe not. Coming to think, he usually took both his turns and hers in the kitchen because _she_ never took hers. Oops.

Mum laughed. 'Oh dear. I have to leave now – you'll make sure he won't be late for school?'

Rin turned around at that moment, as socked footsteps pattered on the staircase. 'Oh hi Len,' she said a little sarcastically, 'Nice to see you out of your coffin.'

His earrings were little black Goth-looking crosses.

'Good morning. You're leaving already, Mum?' he asked lightly.

There was a weird pause, where Mum shifted her gaze away absently and Len blinked queasily.

Not seeming to need a particular reply he mildly dismissed it and lumbered off to the kitchen. Mum stared after him with a slightly edgy expression. She noticed Rin watching curiously, and leaned closer and whispered girlishy, 'He doesn't look like he's in a good mood, does he?'

'It's fine. He's always like that in the morning. He's half asleep so he can't talk properly.'

'Can you tell him I said I'm sorry I scolded him? I think he was trying to tell me last night. I wasn't in a very flexible mood,' Mum explained apologetically. 'Some bundle of very confusing and useless papers. Tell him thanks too for me, okay? I need to go – have fun at school!' She smiled quickly, rushing out.

Rin stared at the back of the front door. Len was sometimes… sometimes _plain_ annoying. She sniggered. He needed to get his priorities sorted; he should have thought about waking up in the morning too.

She heard a loud clang from the kitchen and headed in to see if he'd fallen asleep on something.

Almost like he'd taken pills or something, actually.

* * *

Rin scowled down at Len after their first Maths class. He was still knocked out, with his face buried in his elbow flat on his desk. He'd been just aware enough to hand her an especially fat banana while stumbling on the way to school. She had to eat it to get rid of it, since she didn't even want to consider her bag reeking of banana for the rest of the week.

She slapped his head with the flat of a protractor. 'Seriously, what's your problem? I'm wide awake.'

Len mumbled something incoherent in reply.

'Oh, by the way, Mum said thanks for the food last night. She said it was good.'

'Hmm. You knew?'

So it was true. Wait what– Of course she knew, Mum told her. Who was he kidding? He was probably still half asleep. 'She seemed to be under the impression I was in on it too,' she continued sarcastically. 'I do wonder why? She knows I hate anything to do with cooking.'

'Whatever. You were supposed to be asleep.'

'Turns out I wasn't, huh?'

'…Thanks for the message.'

'Oh? Playing cool or something are you?'

'Shut up, I'm trying to sleep here,' Len grumbled. 'Thanks, okay?'

'You're not supposed to sleep in class.'

'Whatever.'

'Why didn't you tell her it was _your_ idea? She'd be very happy to know you aren't useless,' she teased.

'Shut up. Shut up, just shut up.'

'Hey. What's your problem?'

The only reply was a loud, fake snore.

'Fine,' she snapped. 'Go ahead, it's not _my_ problem if you get grounded for crappy exam work again.' She made a disgusted face at the bunch of girls chattering (no need to mention giggling) nearby – ahh, Len was seriously cute looking sleepy with scruffy uncombed hair crumpled the wrong way, wasn't he. She snorted. To them he was cute with venomous fangs. She could imagine their reactions if they saw him in that bisque doll-makeup he did for fun last year. The outcome had been positively _ravishing_.

…Yes, she was aware he was a bit crazy. She didn't question his motives.

Bisque _dolls_ were meant to be that way after all, and Len had sure proved that alright. She only wished Mum could have let them show Dad as well, instead of getting Len to hide in the pantry (Len himself having made sandwiches in protest, which made perfect sense). Dad hardly ever laughed in front of them.

He hardly even came home, actually.

* * *

Mum came home earlier than usual.

Len perked up from his homework as she strode into the room. 'Mum. You're early.' He grinned brightly.

'Hi Rin – Len. You're home? How was school?' Mum said blearily, as usual. She strolled off to make tea.

'Fine. The usual.' Len casually went back to his algebra.

_| | | | |**(*Some gibberish algebra)**_

Rin sniggered. 'What? You were looking for a gameware?'

'You were supposed to be asleep,' he muttered again.

Pathetic. They weren't in _pre-school_. 'Sorry to disappoint you but isn't _that_ a bit too much?' she asked him amusedly. 'Why don't you just ask it straight? She'll just say no if it's a no. You'd rather be late for school and get detention?' Not that she was honestly taunting him, just couldn't help it because it was kind of addictive.

She saw him flinch. Oops – had he been serious? 'This doesn't make sense,' he sniffed. 'Why not a and b? What's the purpose of using x and y again?'

_| | | | |**(*More**_**_ gibberish algebra)_**

'Are you trying to pervert Maths as well?' Rin glanced sideways at his notebook.

_| | | | |**(*Gibberish in her messier handwriting, which somewhat made it worse)**_

She double-checked it. 'There, done. You're sure about this? What's the next?'

Len scowled. 'Hilarious,' he muttered. 'Cheers to Algebra. Have you ever wondered who wrote this stupid book?'

'Huh?'

'Nothing. By the way I've no clue. Check the answer.'

Rin shrugged and flipped open the back page of the workbook. 'Hmm. I'm going to the toilet.' She got up and left.

When she came back she found Len pestering Mum over at the table. His mechanical pencil was left neglected on his open notebook on the sofa. 'Mum, you're staying for dinner today?' he was asking casually.

A yawn. 'No, I just dropped in to pick up a few things. I need to leave soon.'

'Can't you stay?'

'Sorry, but no.'

'Pretty please?' he grinned.

Rin ignored them and returned to her place on the sofa, picked up Len's notebook and resumed copying down her equations.

'No. Len, stop nagging me.'

Rin snorted.

'Then do you like… Leek and potato soup?'

'I think it's alright. Why?'

'What time are you coming back tonight?'

'Oh.' Mum sighed exasperatedly. '_No_, Len. I'm alright. Don't sleep late again. Was it actually _your_ idea, then?'

'…Yes,' he admitted. 'Sorry.'

'Leave her alone, Len, she's busy,' Rin snapped irritably. Mum looked a bit relieved.

'Is it okay if I finish my homework early?' Len asked in a hopeful tone. 'I'll leave Rin out of it.'

Rin got up from her seat and when to join them. 'That's not the _point_ you idiot,' she snapped at him. 'Stop being a pain in the butt for Mum!'

Mum laughed, but she sounded strained. 'It's alright Rin, don't be so mean to your brother. No Len, if you finish your homework early you should go to sleep early. How many times do I need to tell you not to stay up late? I get it you want to help out but I'm really getting fed up.'

'…Sorry. Have I upset you?'

Mum gave him a smile that made Rin glare at him. 'No, of course not. Just go to sleep early.'

'Why?'

'Len. Just _shut up_,' Rin hissed. 'Read. The. Atmosphere!'

He hurriedly ducked his head, finally seeming to realise he was on the verge of getting whacked with a fat maths book. Coming to think he was always ducking here and there. Was she too fond of whacking his head? That made her slightly thoughtful, but…

She just couldn't help it.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it? Please reveiw! :3**


	10. Chapter 8

**Meow.**

**Apologies for crappy writing. This chapter turned out a lot longer than it should have.**

**Okayy, I seem to have miscounted one day – going by the calendar here the 14th should be Sunday, not Monday. Meh. Hope you aren't that fussy.**

**And I'm half-asleep (always am). =+lll Please, please review if there're any confusing points. I've been too lazy for the past month to check 3000+ words' worth of OC-Rin's droning.**

**Enjoyyy (ww)**

* * *

8.

The weekends were never unwelcome.

Mum had been acting a little weirdly since Wednesday; she left early in the morning before either of them woke up, and then came home even later than usual after they'd gone to sleep. Or at least, as far as Rin knew. Maybe Len was still awake – he kept going downstairs.

Except for additional surpluses on homework, they were more or less free on weekends – since Len had (temporarily) announced he'd quit going out with girls, he was hanging around the house for a change rather than being dragged around a shopping complex. Rin played video games on the TV while he sat lounging cross-legged on the sofa watching her, absently knitting on a ball of white yarn. He'd cussed out loud and gone to fetch a pair of disposable earplugs after the third rally of crashes and bangs and explosions from the stereos.

Rin could only find one word to describe his choice of earrings today: _hideous_. Utterly. They came in different colours, red and blue, on each side. The one on the left side was Beta and the other one was Alpha.

Len's neatly – meticulously – highlighted and underlined homework notebook lay open ignored above Rin's half-finished one on the coffee table. She'd given up on the boring copying shit about an hour ago and taken to stress-relieving on a nice loud PS3 baby.

After her fifth round with increasingly dramatic bloody visuals (it was supposed to be rated 18 or something but no one really cared) she took a break to get a cup of cocoa, and sat back down continuing to ignore the accusatory glare of her open notebook.

With a pleased exclamation, Len handed her something – a fluffy white rabbit.

It felt so weird after all that chaos that she laughed out loud. 'Hahaha… N'awwhh, that's cute.' It really was adorable: very fluffy with long floppy ears and black button eyes, finished with a frilly lace-crochetted blue scarf. 'Hmm. It looks kind of familiar. …Or maybe not,' she frowned at the scarf for a moment, and then shrugged.

Len was peering curiously at her. 'Does it? Weird.'

'Nah, it's probably something else.' She began to hand it back, but he made no move to take it; he'd turned away and was picking a new ball of acryl from his striped tote. 'What? It's… It's for me?' she said in surprise.

Len nonchalantly inclined his head without looking at her and promptly began to knit something else.

Oh… For her. She blinked at the white rabbit she still had clutched. It wasn't that large – it had a metal ring attached on its scarf so it could be hung like a keychain. Sweet.

With a shiver, she adjusted her down quilt on her shoulders. It was still February and quite cold, even in the house with the heaters on. At least they had a big electric carpet too.

Speaking of, today was the 13th of February, Sunday. Tomorrow was Valentine's Day.

She blushed slightly. That also reminded her…

She scowled up at Len, now knitting a neat curved plaid out from a ring of bright yellow string. 'You know, I honestly envy you. _You_'re switching girls like every other week like shit knows and _I_'ve been just _pining_ over Kaito for ages. It's not fair; I thought we're supposed to be twins!'

'That doesn't mean we have to do the same thing. We only look the same,' Len said calmly without looking up. He did a double loop and kept on knitting.

'Exactly. Why is it that if we look the same you're not as unpopular as me?' she demanded.

'Because you're blasted blind, and I was an idiot enough to start the whole thing off.'

'Hey!'

Len muttered a curse and undid several loops. 'Gosh. That was a compliment you know. _I _wish I was so… I dunno, dull. Insensitive, oblivious, whatever you call it.'

What a weird conversation. 'You mean unattractive?'

He stared warily at her. 'You mean you _like_ getting screwed?' He snorted. 'If I _ever_ come across anyone who actually _enjoys_ that I'd definitely say they're goners.'

'No, no… That's not what I meant!' It really wasn't fair. They were identical twins. Shouldn't their… "_standing_"s be the same too?

Of course, she could think of quite a number of things that were different between her and Len. First of all, she was a girl and he was a boy, but somehow they appeared identical all the same (probably made up for by Len's positively feminine outlook). Girls ogled at Len through most of the class, which was why he was always called to the front seat while he tried to slip off to the back – because they ogled at him over their shoulders anyway and eventually got scolded. Guys stared at anything but her when she looked at them, whether it was the wall or floor or pencil or blank notebook page, but never the board because she always sat beside Len at the front. (Was she that intolerably hideous?) Len was left-handed while she was right-handed. He liked bananas and cats and she liked satsumas and rabbits. His bedcovers were yellow and hers were orange. He was two inches taller than her. His hair was scruffy and tied up while hers wasn't. He was a caffeine addict while she preferred cocoa. Her bedroom drawer was on the right side and his was on the left… okay, that was obvious. There was an endless array of insignificant things she could think of if she wanted.

Despite that, they shared a lot of interests too. One thing they both enjoyed was shopping for makeup. A weird hobby for Len being a boy, she supposed, but he never seemed to mind. On the contrary he was (_somehow_) better at doing makeup. They both took turns trying out the samples – they could each try on different shades to compare them, which was one of the good things about looking identical – in front of the mirror. Nowadays they'd gotten bored of the usual stuff and gone into more unusual ones; their most recent find was metallic black lip gloss and flaxen false-lashes, the latter which Rin in particular found especially helpful on groggy mornings.

It was a good thing they had two cupboards in the bedroom or they wouldn't know which clothes were whose, since they were virtually identical. – Not that it mattered much, nor did they mind, but an argument during the morning rush was something they both weren't keen on. Undergarments, of course, they had no issue with. The only real problem was socks. Len brought them upstairs in a big basket of washed and dried laundry, all jumbled up together. They were supposed to find a matching pair for each, which they always found impossible – to them, being the same size, with a uniform design for school socks, they all looked the same. So they usually left the basket there and randomly fished four individuals out of the pile every morning.

Rin cast around for a random subject to talk about. Len had suddenly decided to wear black today… which wasn't something he did often, for a certain reason.

'I never knew you even had a black shirt,' Rin commented, sceptically inspecting him for about the tenth time this afternoon. He looked a bit wrong in it. Now he was adding green acryl knots around the edges of the fat yellow outline of a banana he'd just knitted. Another dishwashing sponge, by the looks of it.

'Of course I do,' he snapped back. 'You know they're in my cupboard. I only don't wear them because you keep screeching it makes me look like a zombie. Maybe I should _powder_ my face darker like a prissy old woman. It's hard enough to find light ones.'

Exactly. He looked like a china doll. Why did he need any, anyway? Guys didn't use powder. 'And you still do. You look dead enough already. What made you change your mind all of a sudden?' she insisted. He wasn't any more fun like he used to be. He was so… _weird_, too calm and depressed and not at all like Len. Not that he hadn't been like that for a few years already.

'What? Is there any reason why I shouldn't?' he said rather spitefully. 'It's none of your business.'

Ah, she wished they could get back like they were before this all started. Len was always in a bad mood nowadays. Getting new girlfriends only seemed to worsen the whole issue, if anything. She wished it'd somehow stop, but not being "occupied" did horrors to his mood, for some reason. That of course included shutting himself in his cupboard for hours on end together with his beloved headphones. She sometimes wondered if he got girlfriends just to keep his mood steady. It pretty much seemed like it, since he was in no bubbly spirits when he got "snogged" by a girl, which was quite often – too often, in her opinion. Not at all bubbly in fact, sometimes even the opposite. Like a kind of entertainment genre, a bit like internet and smart phone addiction that puts you in a crappy mood when you quit.

She turned away, subconsciously clenching a fist. Nowadays she really didn't understand the state of his mentality.

Len suddenly seemed to realise his mistake, because his narrowed eyes softened. '…Sorry.'

Rin scowled at him and didn't reply. She didn't want an apology – didn't he get that? He had no idea _why_ she was upset. Why did he need damned girlfriends to talk to? They caused nothing but trouble and left him worse off than he'd been. Was _she_ so unpleasant to talk to instead that he preferred them despite all the headache they gave him? No one seemed to like her – wasn't it his… his _job_ to cheer her up if she didn't have any friends? Who was _she_ supposed to talk to? And he looked awful in black. Downright awful. It made his cold bleach-face stand out exactly like some dead person in a coffin, in a very sickening way she didn't want to think about.

Len noted her expression and looked away. 'Let's… Let's go shopping,' he mumbled.

* * *

A rich, sweet, wholesome aroma wafted past the paused and forgotten TV screen. The sun was almost setting outside the tinted French windows overlooking the small porch.

They both stood in the kitchen, back in their former relaxed mood. A steel bowl of melted chocolate floating in a frying pan full of warm water was set on the kitchen counter alongside a hairdryer – Len's idea, swear – and cling-film. They'd gone to the supermarket to buy an easy icing kit and a set of moulds which now also sat on pieces of foil beside the bowls on the counter.

Rin sniffed the delicious air yet again, and vaguely wondered why Len hated hot cocoa so much when he seemed perfectly fine with this suffocatingly dense chocolate fume.

Len spooned one third of the chocolate into his heart-shaped mould. He passed the remaining two thirds in the bowl to Rin.

She blinked questioningly. 'You're supposed to use half. I don't need that much.'

'Oh? You're not making two?' Len drawled without looking up from his work. He reached under the counter and casually produced another identical mould. When had he slipped that in the basket? There were only two when she'd last looked.

'T-two? Why would I… ?'

Oh.

Rin felt her face instantly go scarlet. Her cheeks were so hot it was a wonder why they didn't steam like the hot water in the bowl. 'I- I'm not going to – I can't – no way, no bloody way!' she stammered. 'It isn't _that_ serious – it is but it's not – I m-mean…'

Len yawned. 'Ahh, quit arguing unless you're gonna talk properly. I've no idea what you're saying anyway.'

She glared at him.

He smugly glanced at her through the corner of his eye. 'Do you need that or not? Hurry up before it cools down.' _You_ need cooling down, by the looks of it, he added dryly. 'You need an icepack?'

'Of course not,' she snapped. 'Fine.' She grabbed the bowl and poured the rich brown contents into each of her moulds, reluctantly breathing in the deliciously hot, sweet aroma. She cupped her heated cheeks in her palms and sighed. What was she going to do?

She snuck a look sideways and caught Len hurriedly looking away from her and grinning down stupidly into his heart-shaped pool of chocolate, slightly pink. He briefly laughed and hastily covered it with a cough. 'You're totally sick,' she told him.

'Huh?' he said stupidly.

'Aren't you making that for Mum?' They were making one each for her, a random Miss Angel suggestion by Len.

'This? Hmm, yeah. What about it?'

'Please just _please_ don't _ever_ tell me you…'

'I what?' He looked rather bewildered.

'You…'

'Look, whatever you want to say, say it. Are you gonna finish making that or not?'

'Nevermind.'

He continued to stare curiously at her.

'_Nevermind_, it's nothing. Go back to your chocolate.'

'Okay,' he shrugged.

That might have been rather cheap. She'd just wanted a distraction, though needless to report it hadn't worked much.

_Two_… She couldn't believe she was actually making this. She briefly thought about the design they were gonna do later with icing, but then decided not to. Hopefully it'll just come to her… She blushed. Of course not. What was she thinking of, some sort of magical "inspiration by fate" rubbish? Inspiration the hell.

How was she gonna give this to – to… Like, would he…? Oh _nonono_, her mind was flying away to all sorts of inappropriate fantasies – she was supposed to be concentrating before the thing cooled down – what if he– Oh dear no, she wasn't thinking right…

Len coughed.

She briefly raised an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged. '…Stop making weird faces,' he said flatly.

Rin barely managed to glare at him through the flaming blush in her cheeks.

Len paused a bit to change the subject. 'By the way if you're planning on _buying_ any chocolates I don't want to be eating half-frozen blocks till next Christmas yeah? And –'

She sniffed.

He didn't notice. He was looking down at his hands as he tapped his chocolate mould to settle the contents. '– I think Mum's gonna go haywire if you actually go to _buy_ anything. She hates sugar.'

'You narcissist.' Then why make chocolates?

'Wha–? _Not_. I meant your lot. I'm not gonna eat your leftover crap.'

'I hate you.'

He blinked in slight confusion. '…Thanks.'

-.-.-.-

Forty-five minutes later, they both stared mutely at the three heart-shaped slabs of chocolate sprawled out unyieldingly on the kitchen counter, looking extremely plain and brown and boring. Rin had a small white icing tube clutched nervously in her hands.

'Um, Len? Any ideas?' she asked him uncomfortably.

He shrugged. 'Don't think too long or the icing's gonna melt. Go on, I'm just waiting for you to finish.'

'My mistake asking,' she sniffed. Like he'd be any help. She… she could go with a nice simple design, like a dotted border maybe, but then she had to write_something_… She could do by not adding her name. She could write a mini love-letter (pfft) and just leave it on his desk during break or something, or slip in in his shoebox, or…

'Write your name,' Len said mildly from the side.

Her heart lurched. 'Do I need to?'

'Yes.'

'Why are _you_ telling me?'

'You asked me for ideas.'

'I didn't mean _that_. I meant the general design.'

'Write something interesting.'

'Like what? Specifically.'

'Dunno, poetry maybe. I know – a portrait.' He smirked.

'Don't be stupid.'

'_Love from Rin, G1-2._'

'Shut up!'

Len burst out giggling. She felt like whacking his head with the solid icing bag. Hmm. Icing Len currently felt like it would be a lot easier than decorating this evil little piece of chocolate…

What was she thinking? Icing Len was pretty easy but it wasn't any use.

Of course, some girls would probably find the concept very appealing. Icing was sweet and delectable and quite undeniably enticing to munch on – not that she was personally interested – maybe she could bring a large packet of icing to school tomorrow in revenge for his making fun of her. Imagining his reaction cheered her up a little.

-.-.-.-

**_To Mum,_**

**_Happy Valentine's Day._**

**_Love from Len_**

…

It was as easy as that.

Rin couldn't help feeling inexpressibly silly. Of course, writing the second piece hadn't been that difficult for her, either. She'd more or less written the same thing, but without the sugar roses.

'Can… can you do the roses for mine?' she asked Len timidly. 'In pink.' She meekly indicated her first chocolate heart.

He shook his head with a grin.

She narrowed her eyes. 'Why not?' she demanded.

'You're breaking the rules,' he winked.

'_What rules_?'

He shrugged nonchalantly. 'You really want me to? _You_'re supposed to make it by yourself.'

'Look here, I don't care about some stupid bunch of rules you made up.' She folded her arms crossly.

Len shook his head again, still grinning. 'Nope.'

'You're acting like a prig!'

'Really? I don't care.'

Len simply refused to add anything for her. She tried whacking him on the head but it didn't work. In the end he sighed and showed her how to do the thing herself – she practiced a bit on cut pieces of aluminium foil. When she thought she was ready she added a tiny bit of red colouring and did them on the actual chocolate.

She stepped back and studied it sceptically. 'It still doesn't look that nice,' she said. 'How'd you do yours so neat?'

'Why? It looks fine,' Len said, peering mildly at her handiwork.

'It's so _messy_,' she complained.

'It's cute.'

'Yeah, say what you want. I want to redo it.'

'Don't. You can't anyway.'

'Maybe I shouldn't give it. It's chocolate, we can just eat it like–'

'I thought you were on a diet.'

'You don't say.'

'Whatever.'

'Where'd you learn all this stuff anyway?'

Len cracked into a half-hearted grimace. 'Y'know, _girls_.'

'…Ouch.'

He looked a bit surprised. 'Thanks.'

They put the heart-shaped chocolates into neat plastic wrappers and put them back in the back of an overhead cabinet. Rin stared at the solid closed door, suddenly starting to feel anxious again. Was she really going to give this to him tomorrow?

Len gave her a cheerful pat on the shoulder and trotted off.

She wished tomorrow would never come. No, she wished she didn't have to wait so long. She wanted it to be over right now. She was already feeling nervous prickles in her stomach.

Either way she was in for one heck of a sleepless night, that was for certain.

* * *

**Oh my the way - if you've been wondering why the pace is so slow - I'll just say this is how life goes for someone with depression (I'll explain later, swear xP).**

**Review, please? :3**


	11. Appendix 8a

8.5

**-Len's recipe book-**

**Handmade chocolate for dummies (Rin)****:**

1 bar milk chocolate – grams… random

1 hairdryer (preferably less than 4 years old; they tend to start stinking after that)

1 stainless-steel bowl

1 spoon random size, better wide and flat

Set of moulds, random

1 knife and chopping board

1 apron, seriously use this or risk Mummy's curse

Toppings if necessary

* * *

o. Put on an apron before you touch anything

i. Break the chocolate into half-size blocks in a bowl, set aside one block (open the packet if you're dumb enough to need reminding)

ii. Chop the remaining block into small bits (note: ON the chopping board =,=)

iii. Hair-dryer the chocolate in the bowl to melt it, 30 seconds or whatever, don't mind if they're still square-ish

iv. Mash up the contents of the bowl with a spoon

v. Drop a pinch of the chocolate bits into the mush bowl, stir with the spoon until they melt

vi. Repeat until the bits don't melt anymore – DO NOT REHEAT THE STUFF (spurs up)

vii. Pour/spoon the chocolate into the moulds. Make sure they aren't thicker than 5mm(0.197 inches)

viii. Eat the remaining bits if there're any :3

ix. Add whatever toppings while hot (they won't stick otherwise), dump in the fridge or leave outside if the room temperature is below 23.3 Celsius. COVER WITH CLING-WRAP if you're leaving the thing outside or risk insects in your dessert. Unnecessary if Prince Charming happens to be a frog (personal opinion not included here).

x. WASH THE UTENSILS …and clean the counter.

Tip: For god's sake don't reuse the cling-wrap to _wrap_ your chocolate – think of something slightly more decent. And don't over-do it. Present box and foam packaging unnecessary (up to you).

…

**Tips**:

_Hey – don't look at the screen like that. The hairdryer works. Honestly._


	12. Chapter 9

**Meeoowwwr.**

**Good evening ladies and gentlemen and all you royal-household-cats-who-can-read! :DD It's past midnight (this crazy cat here currently going high with caffeine and Cavana and Len Kagamine **–** ooh look a sensationally crappy example of alliteration **–** and not going to be able to sleep for a considerable while unless my beloved bolster starts singing Ciel's Lullaby and then I might decide otherwise), my earphones just had a short circuit and fangirls I guarantee you there is no better hors d'oeuvre than Len Kagamine plus a helping of Camembert cheese and crackers you can get hold of to accompany any favourite glass of yours and anyway, I thought I might as well upload this chapter while I'm still in the mood.**

**So... how many words starting with C did I score in that paragraph? :3**

* * *

**FIRSTLY. Apologies for the fantastic bore of this whole sloth-paced affair, but neither of the narrators here seem to give a damn about making an interesting story (these're more like meaningless diary entries that go on and on and on and on and on and continuation abbreviated) so – please just leave them to their own pace.**

**Sorry for the over-frequent use of flashbacks. One more coming up here.**

**Oh by the way – if you're getting bored, count the total number of bananas mentioned in this fic. There'll be bananas appearing all the way down to Part 4… Okay I guess that kind of was a spoiler (if you get my meaning, the only person here who eats bananas on a regular basis is Len). xP**

* * *

9.

As far as she knew that night, Len was missing from his bed again and didn't come back any time before midnight. She might have caught a whiff of something that smelt like leek soup – or she might have been dreaming because she didn't remember falling asleep after that.

Anyhow, he was an idiot.

-.-.-.-

_Rin gazed absently out through the bars on the window at the boring outdoors, tired of picking at the loose threads on her blanket. She'd been studying them for a while now but they weren't so much different from any other day, with nothing worth being interested in._

_She wished Len would stop wailing. He'd been fussing at it for a very long time – she wondered why he had to be so fussy with everything he did. She was done long ago and felt perfectly good._

_She wasn't boasting or anything, but she could fold her pyjamas all on her own now, though the buttons were still very tricky. She liked the way the Lady in Blue applauded her when she got it right. Right now they were tucked in a slightly messy but acceptably square pile beside her, freshly folded about half an hour ago. She was a bit happy that she'd learnt to fold them herself faster than her brother for once. He always learnt to do stuff like building nice sandcastles and drawing things on paper (and walls) faster than her. She usually left more streaks on her hands than her sheet of paper when she held a crayon._

_And she still couldn't quite get the knack of getting cats to come over like he did. He called most of them "girls" – except this small one he called Lyn – but she didn't know how he knew. Maybe she'd find a new way to try to persuade Len to teach her how today, later when they went Outdoors._

_She glanced sideways at him in the other side of their room, kicking about in protest with wails of complaint. He sounded like a whining crybaby – he was so immature. The Lady in Blue who usually came here was looking annoyed like always, trying to get him to stop flailing. Despite her efforts Len continued to complain, hands stuck beside his ears. He was always like that. Rin sometimes wondered why the lady still bothered to put up with his nonsense every day. She smacked him sometimes when he really got out of hand – he still had a purplish blotch on his shoulder from one the other day – but not _that_ often, so Rin assumed she was nice._

_She covered her ears with her hands when Len reached a particularly unpleasant pitch._

_After about another fifteen minutes Rin started bawling out of frustration. She was hungry. The Blue Lady looked flustered. 'Be quiet, Rin. Can't you wait? And Len – she wouldn't have to wait if you stopped your nonsense.'_

_After that Len finally seemed to tire of squirming and stopped wailing, but still continued to grumble wordlessly._

_Soon getting tired of both waiting and bawling, Rin got up from her bed with an exaggerated sigh loud enough for him to hear and padded over to the door of their room, but found the door closed and went back to her original seat since she still couldn't reach the doorknob. Ah, gosh. Len always took so much longer than her – like really a lot._

_She blearily hoped there'd be something tastier than mush for breakfast today._

_-.-.-.-_

_The afternoon was warm and lazy and comfortable, despite the lustreless (and pretty much tasteless) lunch._

_Len yawned._

_She glanced at him lying stretched out on his side behind her a lot like one of his cats, wearing a somewhat grouchy frown. She looked away, nose in the air, determined to stay awake during the whole of Nap Time for once. She rearranged her hands wrapped around her folded legs and rested her chin on her knees, watching everyone else snoring away like lumps of rock on their mattresses._

_'I wanna sleep,' Len complained, hair mushed up and dishevelled from turning round and round._

_She looked at him again. 'You can,' she sniffed, '_I'm_ staying awake.'_

_He frowned crossly and started poking patterns on her back. 'I _can't_.'_

_'Why?' she asked curiously._

_An arm curled around her shoulder and pulled her flat on her side. Len stuck his nose in the spot between her shoulder blades and gave a contented sigh. 'I'm not your bolster,' she complained. 'Hey – wake up!' By the time she'd finished saying "bolster" he'd already fallen fast asleep._

_The laziness of the whole afternoon was doing her no good. She felt really, really warm and snuggly and comfortable, with the slow-ticking clock and the soft fluffy mattress and Len gently snoring away like he didn't give a damn._

_She sighed and gave up, and soon enough she drifted off to sleep as well._

_It was funny that she always felt sleepy too when Len was sleepy, but that was how it was._

_-.-.-.-_

_It wasn't so funny when she was rather roughly shaken awake from a pleasant floating dream._

_'Rin – come, wake up. I thought I asked you to stay awake.'_

_She scowled grumpily at the Lady in Blue (no, not that one)._

_'Come along – there's someone here to meet you.'_

_'What about Len?'_

_'No. Just you, sweetheart.'_

_'Huh?'_

_She reluctantly untangled herself off of Len – he stirred with a sleepy moan of protest – and got up. As soon as she had, she was whisked away out of the room, treading carefully past everyone else still asleep and into the corridor. She glanced back with a muddle of indignation and envy at Len, who was still allowed to sleep._

_The Blue Lady led her away, fussing about her straightening her clothes and then her ruffled hair. 'It's alright, he's a very nice young gentleman. Don't be nervous. Greet him nicely, okay?'_

_Rin blinked in confusion. What gentleman? What was going on?_

_'There – be good and you might get a wonderful new home. You'll be alright,' the Blue Lady said with an encouraging pat on her shoulder._

_They'd reached the Front, facing the large heavy door of the mysterious room she'd never been in before. Wasn't this where the Visitors went into when they came? Why was _she_ going in there?_

_She gulped._

* * *

**And yeah btw, this fic is a virtual lump of fandom kinks/squicks. You'll find out why later.**

**You know that lovely feeling you get when the whole room seems to be floating around you like it's falling through the sky**– **Okay whatever, please review! :3**


	13. Chapter 10

**And again, sorry for the long fore-notes, but just thought I'd like to inform you…**

**THIS IS THE WORLDWIDE LEN-WHUMPERS' ULTIMATE WHUMP COMPLIATION REMIX. And if you have an issue with that please do not read ahead of this line, I'm not fond of receiving flamers when I've properly added a warning – and in CAPITAL LETTERS, too.**

**Hmm. I've just been wondering whether I should have stuck to the original title of this story, which was Moth.**

* * *

10.

_A loud crash and a shriek came from the kitchen, making Rin look up from her neatest-yet crayon artwork, which she was quite confident now was better than Len's (he hadn't been doing any work at all recently). Maybe Mother would be happy when she saw it. She got up out of curiosity and went to look when familiar shrill wailing followed the shriek._

_She tripped at the entrance and scowled. She still hadn't gotten used to that stupid bump. She had to make sure she wouldn't fall again._

_Everything was still so… strange. New, even though they'd been here for quite a long time now. Or maybe it was short. But it felt very long._

_The source of the catastrophic noise was Len, of course. He'd apparently spilt a lot of soupy stuff on himself – he was sitting on the tile floor bawling his head off beside the upturned pot. Weird bluish flames were still flickering on the top of one of the stoves._

_'Lenn! Mother's gonna be mad!' she screeched in alarm._

_He only bawled louder. He was so occupied by crying that he was apparently finding it hard to breathe._

_'Len!' Rin urged. 'Hurry! We've got to do something.'_

_He looked at her and then looked away and went on bawling. Rin looked at the reddening burns on his arms and bit her lip. She went to fetch a banana from the bunch hanging on the counter and gave it to him. He hiccupped, and meekly blinked at it._

_Rin picked up the solid iron pot and clumsily tried her best to clean the floor with a mop before Mother came home, while Len sat on a stool watching bleakly with his elbows held up at a stiff angle. Rin rounded on him when it became clear he wasn't going to do anything. 'Try wash it,' she ordered. His burns weren't looking too pretty. Mother wasn't going to like it. They'd have to find a way to hide it before she came home. She might be home any minute now._

_To Rin's relief she managed to finish quite quickly, and went off to draw something else, leaving Len still sitting in the kitchen nibbling on his banana. The sky was turning orange-ish._

_She watched the sunset glumly. The TV was getting very boring. She wondered how long it would be before Mother came home – Mother always went out shopping on her own during the late afternoon. For her and Len, these were the few leisure hours they got to spend free in the house._

_She stiffened when she heard the front door opening. Her small fist clenched the edge of the sofa. But when the face emerged from behind the door, it was Dad. Rin let out a small sigh, relaxing._

_'Hey, Rin. Where's Mother? How's everything going?"_

_'Dad – I'm hungry,' she complained. 'I'm bored. Len dropped the pot and split soup. I mopped the floor by myself,' she announced loudly. 'What's for dinner?'_

_Dad looked surprised. 'You haven't eaten yet?'_

_Len crept out of the kitchen to peep timidly at them. Dad turned and noticed him. He smiled, though turning pale._

* * *

On the contrary she had a very good night's sleep. The morning arrived all too quickly.

In fact Len looked like he'd had a lot more trouble sleeping than her. He woke up even later than usual, looking half-dead with a chalky face and bleary drooping eyes. She just supposed he'd had icing-related nightmares.

She crept downstairs on tiptoes and was relieved to find the ground floor empty. She didn't feel like discussing valentine episodes with Mum and even less about her crush. She was glad Valentine's Day was in February – it was still very cold, so the chocolates didn't melt even if they were kept outside. She took the neat pink-fringed wrapping by the top, tied fancily with a piece of rose ribbon and gazed at her handiwork inside one more time.

It didn't look any better today. It still looked very shoddy. The letters (she blushed) were sprawling and lopsided and only just legible, with un-dainty clumsily done sugar rosettes scattered round the free corners basically screaming of cloddish fingers not meant for the kind of smart girls that guys probably liked. She hastily stuffed it in her bag.

She didn't want to go to school.

Damn, she wished Len wasn't there. She wouldn't have even made the stupid thing. She wouldn't have been fretting like this.

But then, but then… She wondered what would happen, heart giving a small flutter. When – if – she gave this to _him_… She suddenly felt like she was getting ready to walk right off a cliff over a gorge to the other end over thin air. Or she felt like she was more likely about to plummet down the gorge, all the way down. Her head felt light and a bit woozy.

She was making such a big fuss over nothing.

The traditional way to describe the feeling would be to say she had butterflies in her stomach. She didn't feel like eating anything – just imagining mixing raw butterflies with mushed toast and cereal made her feel like puking – she could just skip breakfast and pretend she'd eaten.

Len finally came down, more like slithering like a pool of sludge down the stairs.

'Oh? You're going to school?' she asked him sarcastically. 'I was reckoning you might want to stay at home. Not scared?' Bullying him helped to distract her a bit – but his earrings annoyed her. _Green hearts_, of all things. It had to be on purpose.

'Ah, shut up. Where's Mum?' he yawned.

He wasn't any fun at all. Her mood dropped again. 'Mum? She's still upstairs. Why?'

'Oh, nothing.' He gulped down a mug of water together with whatever he'd been gripping in his palm. He gagged noiselessly. 'You got the thing?'

'What thing?' Rin snapped irritably.

'_That_ thing of course. You want me to say it?' he grinned lopsidedly. 'A handmade valentine for your b–'

She lunged at him and slapped her palm over his mouth. '_Just shut up_,' she hissed, tackling him round. What if Mum just happened to come downstairs? Imagine the face she'd make. She might even team up with Len and make fun of her. Her grip unconsciously tightened.

Len gave a dry cough and slumped into her slightly.

'…Sorry,' she muttered and let go. She hadn't forgotten; he was bad at mornings.

He mildly sank down into a chair and said nothing.

'You're not going to give any chocolates to anyone?' she asked awkwardly, casting around for a random subject.

'Are you crazy?' he replied a little hoarsely. He broke into more coughs and failed to straighten with a grimace.

'Y'alright?'

'Fine. I'm just _sleeepy_,' he yawned. 'You nervous?'

'Of course not.'

'Liar.'

'Shut up, you're not helping.'

'It's good. You're finally graduating from being a wallflower. …More like wall-roller.'

She swallowed and exhaled.

'Hey, take it easy. You're not asking him to marry you.'

She choked on her breath. 'Wh-what the – Are you _crazy_?'

'Don't worry,' he winked, 'It happens.'

'…' She soothed her blush and glared at him.

'For goodness sake it's just a piece of chocolate,' Len sighed.

'Nice of _you_ to say,' she replied wryly.

'Well it's better than being sheared off the wall. Did you know this stupid custom was made up and advertised by this confectionery maker in 1953 and got popular in the 1960s and oh my goodness their chocolates are _awesome_. Have you tried their bonbons? I-I mean… why the hell would this old dude called _St Valentines_ give out chocolates? They didn't even have chocolates in 269 and _besides_, he was a _saint_ so he's not supposed to have a crush on anyone and even if he did give someone chocolates I doubt they'd be very happy being told an old dude has a crush on them and if that really happened that'd be totally stupid and–'

'Fine, fine, I get it. Now shut up,' she interrupted irritably.

'Just saying.'

'Lemme guess, you read that last night.'

He laughed. 'Yeah.'

She narrowed her eyes. 'You "couldn't" sleep. Again.'

He looked away.

She sighed accusatorily.

'But trust me, their chocolates _are_ nice. Really,' Len mumbled distractively, looking uneasy.

Rin's eyes remained narrowed. '_Bonbons_, huh. Whisky? Brandy? Vodka?'

He scowled a bit. '…Sherry.'

'Seventh Grade?'

'Sixth.'

'No wonder.'

'…'

'You're fourteen.'

'So?'

'You're underage.'

'Hmm.'

'"_Hmm_"?'

'Y'know, you'd usually expect whisky but… she knew I'm not supposed to take _that_ much of alcohol and…'

Rin bit her lip. '…What do you want to do with Mum's chocolates?'

'Let's just leave them on the table,' Len suggested nonchalantly.

'Good idea.' It was a bland presentation but she couldn't think of anything else to add.

'Come on, let's go. I want to get to my desk before the entrance gets clogged up.'

'You mean before you get _snared_,' she purred cattily.

'Whatever.'

They picked up their bags, Len giving one more glance at the deserted staircase, Rin scowling at him, and trooped out into the frosty air outside.

Rin shivered and rubbed her shoulder. It was February already. Why couldn't it get warmer faster? The sky was an extremely cold-looking bleak grey with streaks of yellow where the half-risen sun was peeking sleepily out from between the woolly clouds. The winter air was sharp and dry and frigid.

Len yawned, dug his hand in his bag and pulled out… not a banana but a thin plastic-wrapped packet – a half-size pocket warmer – and passed it to her.

She blinked. '…Thanks.' She glanced down doubtfully at her bulky cocoon of fluffy coats.

'You need help?' Len asked calmly.

She raised an eyebrow meaningfully.

He rolled his eyes. 'Look, I'm not interested in your ass. Go ahead if you can manage yourself.'

She glared at him.

He blew out a puff of white breath, and fascinatedly watched as it swirled and dissolved and vanished into thin air. 'Hurry up, I'm freezing.'

She made a face and grudgingly fumbled to lift her down jacket.

'God you're stiff. No wonder no one asks you out.'

'What? I'm a tart now?'

'If you were you'd be breakfast.'

'Ha-ha,' she said dryly. 'Apple tart?'

'No, cheese tart.'

The pocket warmer felt cold and lumpy against her cotton inner; it always took a while to start warming up. It felt weird, clinging to her back with adhesive. She tugged at the hem of her coat to straighten it. 'Um… thanks.'

Len randomly dug another hand in his bag and handed her a banana with a somewhat feminine flourish. 'Happy Valentines.'

Oh – ohh, breakfast. Just say she'd been so distracted she'd completely forgotten about it. Needless to say, a banana was a banana and no different from any usual ordinary banana.

* * *

**Hmm, I was thinking... I could write a fic featuring Rin next time titled Despicable Me with a bunch of little banana-munching Len-Minions. That could work; one Len-Minion complete with a USB function for every fangirl. xP  
Review, please? :3**


	14. Chapter 11 - My Burning Valentine's

**Meow.**

**I've recently been obsessed with Vocaloid (read: "Len") MMDs - ohmygoodness, the _Teihen508_ models (courtesy of _unknown_-sama) are just GORGEOUS and adorable and totally worth a good fangirl fit. They just permanently glue you to the monitor and refuse to let go. x3 *ny'awwwwh* I want one. IN THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL WORLD. Right now. (Or maybe they shouldn't exist in real life; they'd probably increase the annual count of assault cases by at least twice. Particularly Len, since it applies to both ends. I'd pity him a lot. xD)**

**Don't know why but I'm extremely tired today... for a change, the caffeine overdose doesn't seem to be helping. ==ll Maybe it's the just lack of bananas. (Well, we all know banana skins are used as bio-fuel.)**

**'kay, okay, I'll shut the babbling.**

* * *

11.

_'Can't you make anything else?' Rin grumbled. They'd been eating toast and instant soup for lunch and dinner for the past few days, since Len had had that disaster with the pot. She finished her bland portion – though she'd never realised how bland plain bread could be until those wholesome bites at family restaurants, what with that mush she used to hate – and still felt peckish enough to want something savoury._

_'Like what?'_

_'Duh, like something worth eating?'_

_Len stuffed his mouth with toast and didn't reply._

_'Come on, you could just think of something else. The fridge's stuffed,' Rin coaxed._

_He mutely munched on._

_'I'm gonna tell Mother.'_

_His eyes he'd fixed on his plate were turning watery again. Well, that always worked, but sometimes worked too well. Rin also felt a bit guilty using this particular threat – she had to admit, she was just as scared – but on the other hand, she was willing to try anything right now._

_'Lennn,' she egged. 'I'm hungry.'_

_'I don't know!' He ran away up the stairs like a princess picking up her skirts and as Rin knew probably went to hide in his cupboard again. She _humph_ed in frustration and drummed her fingers on the table a little like Mother did (she immediately stopped when she realised it), considering what to do._

_Maybe she could go look in Dad's drawers._

_She found a brown envelope with some notes inside – aha – and went to the phone to dial the number on the piece of paper stuck to the side of the shelf beside it._

_Half an hour later, the whole downstairs was smoking with the smell of pizza. Len seemed to have smelt it from his cupboard refuge and came trailing down the stairs._

_He looked incredulously at her tucking into the box of cheesy pastry. He was virtually drooling. 'Where did you get that?'_

_Rin smirked at him triumphantly, suddenly feeling much older. '_I_ was smart enough to go look in Dad's drawers while you were sulking around in your stupid cupboard. You remember when I asked him if we could order pizzas and he said yes? So it makes sense he'd leave some money somewhere.'_

_He slowly quirked an eyebrow. 'Did you ask him if it was okay?'_

_'It's obvious, doofus.' She patted the seat beside her elegantly. 'Come on, I'm not selfish so I'll let you share.'_

_Len moaned and gave her an absolutely awful look, stomping off in indignation. He buried his head under the cushions on the sofa and started sobbing (Rin tried to look worried but there was no way he was going to make her apologise for being smarter), squirmed around apparently trying to go to sleep, jumped up and walked round and round the coffee table, turned on the TV and switched it off immediately, hoisted out a giant dictionary from somewhere and pretended to read it, obviously failed and instead brought out a broom and a dustpan and then a mop which looked like it was dragging him around the room instead of the other way round, followed by a duster and stinking shoe polish, and then started to go upstairs to his cupboard, stopped at the foot of the stairs, went back to pacing around the coffee table in dumb circles… but eventually gave in to the irresistible lure of peperoni and cheese and sat down to a slice with squashy red eyes, scratching at shoe-polish rashes._

_He tentatively nibbled on the savoury crust, and started crying pathetically again for some immature reason that was past her grown-up comprehension._

_Maybe that was just how awesome pizzas were._

_No. She didn't want to understand. _She_ never cried, no matter what. She'd almost cried last night, but she'd managed to hold it down. And she prided herself for it. Not like Len – who snuffled at every other thing that happened to him._

_They got rid of the box in the rubbish bin in the sidewalk outside, before Mother came home from shopping and found them with it._

* * *

Most girls were high and giggly on Valentine's Day.

They went around chattering in tight circles, or scampering this way and that like frightened mice, or hiding behind walls and pillars stalking pitiable helpless subjects.

And then and again there were always those girls who made small "obligatory" chocolates to give to the whole class so they could casually pass one to their crush like nothing along with everyone else. Rin had seen a girl with curly French braids handing out small wrapped chocolate mints from a lacy paper bag last year. Damn, why hadn't she thought of that?

…But then, Kaito was in Sixth Grade so she'd have had to make or buy chocolates for the whole school. Or maybe just for First Grade (as a camouflage) and the senior Sixth Grade… but that still seemed weird. Why not Seventh Grade then? Besides, she doubted Len would have agreed to help her handing them out, somehow, though of course maybe Neru or Renka might have been okay enough with visiting the Sixth Grade classroom. Lily was that kind of girl that was interested in anything to do with hot g–

Ahem. …Was that kind of girl who would have very enthusiastically agreed to that, but she doubted she ought to encourage her because well,… Lily had a boyfriend already, Renka's brother Rinto in Fourth Grade.

The biggest issue right now, previous to any of that was that she somehow had to walk her own two feet to school.

Neru looked at her worriedly. 'Rin, I think you should go back home. You look really pale…'

She shook her head, squatting on the ground, feeling like some three-year-old throwing a tantrum.

'What's wrong?'

'…'

'You gotta say it if you're not feeling okay, you know?'

'…'

What, why did they have to ask? The issue was – well…

Kaito.

Downright gorgeous, perfect Kaito.

He was standing right there behind the wall she'd barely managed to pass by, chatting with a bunch of senior girls, them in their impossibly short and somehow hot-looking skirts and curves and wavy curls. They looked so _mature_ – and any of them would have fit next to him a billion times more than she would. And they'd be there watching when she went into the classroom, when she walked up to him and… She was going to be an absolute laughing stock. And he was going to laugh with them or get embarrassed in front of all his friends because of her and hate her for it. The thought made her feel quite faint.

Why – the heck – if she had a crush on him, did she want to avoid him so much? She wanted him to smile at her – hell she wanted him to – but in truth the moment she even caught sight of him without the cover of her phone (or anything to hide herself behind, for that matter) she felt like her knees were going to collapse under her.

And guess what, they just did. Wonderful. Now her friends were worrying what the hell was wrong with her.

And the worst bit?

Where the fuck was that idiot Len.

He was supposed to be here.

He _had_ been, a minute ago. The useless ass. He was never there when she actually needed a hand. Couldn't he have, like… _at least_ helped her get clear of this or something?

'Rin…? Hello – you listenin'?' Renka waved a hand in front of her face.

'Hmm… – Uh, what?'

'Rin. I seriously think you should go home.'

'No.'

'Come on. You can go home or go to school if you insist – either way you have to get up first,' Lily told her. 'Can you?'

'Where's Len?'

The reply was a bar of chocolate thrust in her face from over her shoulder. 'Eat,' familiar yellow manicures ordered her.

She scowled at it. 'Where did you go?'

'Nevermind _that_, eat.'

'I don't want to eat anything – I feel like I'm gonna be sick.'

'Shut up and eat.'

'This is _your_ fault because I ate that stupid banana! You poisoned it – tell me you did.' This had nothing to do with her nerves, this was just an effect of some weird drug he un-accidentally put in the banana, she was going to be perfectly normal once the effects wore off before they reached the school…

'Then it's the banana's fault. Happy Valentine's, princess – you're talking delirious – face it, here's the prospect,' his hand with his fingers put together like some hand-puppet told her, flapping its mouth annoyingly. He delicately yanked off his fluffy gloves, peeled the wrapper off the chocolate and broke off a chunk, and ignoring her curse stuffed it in her mouth (along with his nail polish, yuck). He straightened and picked her bag off her shoulders. 'Ugh. What d'you carry in here – books?'

She chewed on the chocolate irritably. 'Obviously.'

'Come on. You're gonna be late.'

She ignored him, feeling like a mule.

He sighed. 'Fine. Hey – you guys can go first. I… I'll deal with her.'

Neru and Renka both smirked at her and hurried off. Once they were out of earshot, Len squatted down next to her, hopping around her like an annoying bird. 'Are you going or not?'

'You can go first. With your stupid girlfriends.'

'Okay. What do you want me to tell teacher if she asks where you are?'

'I don't know, you just cook up some convincing story!'

'…' He thought for a second. 'Should I tell them you're down with love-depression and pass that to him for you?'

She buried her face behind her knees. '_I'm_ supposed to give it.'

'Then you should hurry up with it.'

'Just shut up and go first!'

'No, really… I don't care but I think Someone's coming from behind. You'd better hurry if you don't want him to see you like this.'

'What!?' She scrambled to her feet and ran, with Len trailing behind, and swerved into a side lane panting for breath. She glared at him. 'Why the hell didn't you tell me that earlier?'

He shrugged. 'Because I lied?'

Her eyes narrowed viciously.

He may have gotten an inkling that he was in serious danger at that particular moment, but he did something so unexpected that she involuntarily got snapped out of her half-blown fuse and couldn't get back to her anger out of surprise.

She wasn't quite sure if he was in his right mind. His right _hand_ though, she immediately slapped away from where it was apparently trying to get. He let her.

'You have three options,' he said tartly. 'You are in a deserted backstreet that is about to burn down in sixty seconds. You can either escape the site, commit suicide or… hm – what was that again? Oh, the default. If you fail to make a decision in time you automatically go with the default option. Counting down fifty-nine…'

-.-.-.-

In the end, she "committed suicide". However she still didn't understand why his default option was the queerest and most illogical out of the three. And probably the most unpleasant and embarrassing.

Or maybe it was just another bitchy threat of his telling her to give up her crush if she wasn't seriously in for it.

It turned out he'd just been threatened with detention if he was late for class again.

-.-.-.-

She couldn't believe it herself – she was actually _scared_.

Rin was glued to the wall beside the G6-1 classroom, stuck in a storm of mental debate.

To do – or not to do. She wasn't in for tearing petals off roses or anything of the sort, but she really felt like shredding something out of sheer frustration at the moment. Something like a telephone book. This was such a stupidly simple task – walk in, shove it in his desk, walk out. All nice and casual, nothing out of the ordinary.

The thing was that there were Sixth Grade girls sitting in the classroom. They'd all stare if a First Grader like her went in. Her whole body felt like jelly when she imagined them watching her leave a package in a boy's desk on Valentine's Day. And _his_ desk, mind. He had admirers in Sixth Grade, too.

No way. No bloody way.

'Wow, honestly? How long do you intend to stay there?'

'Leave me alone,' Rin snapped, furiously brandishing a finger to her lips. 'Don't talk so loudly!'

Len snickered. He'd been here with her about five minutes ago, had left when some particular girl came walking from the other end of the corridor and was now back again. Rin wished he could just have gone back to the classroom minding his own business.

He rummaged in his pocket. 'Chocolate?'

'No thanks. It'll probably be stuffed with love potion or something. I don't want to go crazy for a girl.'

He snorted. 'If they do exist it'll be something quite inedible.'

'Just leave me alone. You've done enough for one day.'

'You've caused me enough embarrassment for one day,' he retorted.

'What? Gonna start another _Burning Corridor_ version in the middle of school? I'd like to see you try.'

He crossed his arms with a frown as if thinking seriously. 'No, I was thinking of using a bomb scenario this time…'

'Whatever.'

Len leaned against the wall next to her, peering into the classroom. 'Is he _really_ that worth swooning over? Like you did just now?' he asked sceptically with a dramatic frown.

'You shut up.'

'Just saying – he's not really my type.'

'Obviously not.'

'Pssh. That's not what I meant. Say Kaito was a girl and I was this average thing in the same grade – he'd be one of the last girls I'd want to hang out with.'

'I'd say _you_'re the girl. He's not like that.'

'Prove it.'

'Prove it, what? That Kaito's a really nice person or that you're a girl?'

Len smirked. 'Prove he's worth it.'

'Blah, blah. You just keep on talking like a drama queen right there and I'll call the Disney director. You could earn me more than enough to buy ten new PSPs.'

'So you're just gonna quit because of a bunch of gossiping girls in his classroom who'd probably make you a laughing stock?'

'Nicely said.'

'Like, really? So that's all he means to you?'

'Just stop it,' Rin growled. Her face was getting red. 'Yes, they're going to make me a laughing stock because he's obviously not going to accept it.'

'Then why stay here?'

'Len… Will you just shut up?' Her temple was throbbing. 'Shut up… Just shut up and let me decide alone!'

'Do this for me,' he said suddenly.

She scowled. 'Why for you?'

'Please. Yeah?'

'Why should I? I'm not your fucking fangirl who wants to tie your holy shoelaces for you.'

Len bit his lip thoughtfully. 'Say you were me. Would you do this, then?'

'Huh?'

'Say you were doing this instead of me… Say, I didn't have the nerve to give this myself so you were doing this for me. All you have to do is leave it in his desk.'

'Wait. Wait, what… You _have a crush on Kaito_?' Rin covered her mouth with a mock gasp.

'No! Of course not,' Len snapped. 'I'm trying to talk you into doing it – and you're giving me a headache from struggling not to laugh because you're being so ridiculous. Just do me a favour, shut up and get it over with. Ugh. You're embarrassing me just by _existing_ here.'

She pouted.

'Don't make me push you in,' he threatened. Even as he said it, the school bell signalling the start of their next lesson rang through the corridor, telling her she seriously needed to hurry.

'Oh no you won't.'

'Yes I will. And you're gonna fall flat on your face or something and catch everyone's attention.'

'I hate you.'

'I don't live to be not-hated by you.'

Rin took a deep breath. '…Fine.' And then she beamed. 'Y'know what, _yes_! Absolutely.'

Len stared. 'Really?'

'I just got an idea… Follow me,' she said coolly.

'Wait – what? Where're we going? We need to get back to class –'

'Oh, just going to visit the loo…'

'Do I need to _follow _you there?'

'Absolutely.'

'Are you mad?'

She smiled. 'Quite. But being mad has its merits sometimes.'

-.-.-.-

The sweet little episode ended with "Rin" getting shoved into the classroom to deliver "something for Kaito from a friend". Really, she damn looked irresistibly gorgeous. Plus that to-die-for adorable embarrassed blush. And the accidentally crumpled skirt.

Well, _girls_ were quite accustomed to changing on the toilet seat cover.

-.-.-.-

Rin was sitting straight-backed in her seat at the front of the classroom, neatly copying down her maths questions when Len stumbled in ten minutes late clutching a mysterious lumpy bundle, looking all flushed and ruffled to the giggles from a bunch of girls near the back seats, and earned himself an extra ten sums for homework.

She looked up from her work with innocent curiosity, wondering where he'd been all this time.

* * *

**And here comes the old Servant of Evil scenario. xP Hope you enjoyed it - please fav/follow + review? :3**


	15. Chapter 12 - The Rest of It

**Meoww.**

**It's been a bit, I guess.**

**Just for your info – especially since it seems to have caused some confusion while reading – the flashbacks in italics are from about eight or nine years ago. That is, Rin and Len are around five or six years old. (I know – sorry about five-year-old-Rin's PoV sounding more like a fifteen-year-old, but I'm not that much of a talented writer, so I hope you won't be too judgemental.)**

**I enjoyed writing this chapter (minus the flashbacks) a great deal, really. xP Hope you like it.**

**Oh. And you may have noticed I made some changes.**

* * *

12.

They got a Valentine's Day present from their Maths teacher, too: homework notebooks marked all over with red crosses and scribbled comments. And Len with his surplus of homework.

Rin flipped through her notebook with red markings all over the pages, the majority of practice sums having being marked wrong, and scowled across at Len in the row of seats next to hers. They were still sitting in the front, as usual.

He scowled right back at her. 'What? I never asked you to copy my notebook.

'Besides – I even took the trouble to _explain_ that most of it on ninety-nine-out-of-ninety probability was wrong.'

-.-.-.-

Later that afternoon during lunch break, she spotted him in the Fourth Grade classroom sitting on a girl's desk like a smug little cat, tail wrapped around his paws, surrounded by a bunch of cooing senior girls who were feeding him bits of chocolate. A chorus of giggles rose from them as a girl with short green hair tossed a piece of muffin at him, which bounced off his nose. He blushed sheepishly.

Rin turned heel on the spot and marched away in the opposite direction.

* * *

_Cooked peas and peppered potatoes with the usual toast… Well, it was still better than plain toast. Though at the same time, it was getting harder and harder to convince Len to go at the stove each time. He tried to run upstairs and hide in his cupboard, so that she had to run after him and catch him before he could._

_'It's not fair,' he complained. 'Why can't you do it for a change?'_

_'Because they told _you_ to do it.'_

_'That doesn't mean you can't help!'_

_'Yes it does,' she said superiorly. 'I don't know what to do. And besides, you're better at it.' Giving compliments always worked. It was one of the tactics she'd learnt from her aunts._

_'…'_

_'Come on, let's eat.'_

_'…You– you can have my plate.'_

_'What?'_

_'Fine, I'll eat later.'_

_'What's up with you _now_?' Rin said exasperatedly._

_Len hid the hands he'd had clutched to his chest behind his back. 'I'll just, um… go watch TV. You can eat.' _

_Rin realised why he was probably being so sulky (she was getting better at guessing these, since they were so often). 'Show me that.'_

_He stared at her feet. 'No.'_

_'Do you mean to say you did the same thing again? I mean…' It was obvious, wasn't it?_

_'…'_

_'You _did_?'_

_'I don't know how to do it – I- I don't know… if I get it wrong…'_

_'Come on, let me see.'_

_He shook his head. 'Nevermind.'_

_'Wait,' she said, coming up with an idea. 'Remember, like Dad did when I had that fever?'_

_'…Dad…?'_

_'Sit,' she ordered pompously, patting the chair beside her. She plucked his hand out from behind his back when he got close enough – she's recently learnt (the unpleasant way) that some containers grew very hot. Metal containers like pots and pans were particularly hot… and burns apparently hurt. 'You klutz,' she berated (a word she'd recently learned from one of her favourite TV shows – well, in the few hours during the evening)._

_'Stop saying that,' Len complained. He was always complaining._

_'But you are a klutz,' Rin told him; he appeared to have cut his finger as well, because it was still bleeding. Once again she wondered why Mother taught Len how to cook, not her. Given her learning and observing skills, she could have done it better._

_But then and again…_

_She didn't know what to feel. It might have been her who was scolded for burning the toast or spilling on her apron._

_Rin bit her lip guiltily. She picked up his spoon, loaded it with a mouthful of potato and stuck it out towards Len's face. 'Eat.'_

_He scowled and leaned away with a disgusted snort. 'No _thanks_, I'm fine.'_

_'What? Too immature for you?'_

_He kept scowling._

_Rin put the spoon down and crossed her arms. 'Fine then, you can wait until Dad comes home again.'_

_They both heard his stomach rumble. Rin giggled. Len sniffed stubbornly and got up, went to the kitchen and came back with a banana. He took his feet up on the chair and hemmed it between his knees, and got to attempting to peeling it somehow by clamping his teeth over the stem and tugging. He looked quite ridiculous._

_Rin smirked and waved the spoonful of potato again enticingly in front of his nose. 'Wanna eat?'_

_'I can take care of myself,' he growled, gnawing on the stem._

_'You're not gonna get it peeled that way, you know.'_

_'Leave me alone.'_

_'Aren't you hungry?'_

_'Shut up.'_

_'That's not getting you anywhere near eating that.'_

_'You could shut up and help me maybe?' Len growled._

_'Eww – no thanks! It's all covered in your saliva.'_

_'…'_

_'What's so good about bananas?'_

_'You're just gonna make fun of me again!'_

_'So you're not gonna eat?'_

_He eventually gave up, and Len as he was, started sniffling again while she dutifully emptied his plate spoonful by tedious spoonful even though he gave each one a resentful glare, and shoved them in his mouth. Pfft, he was acting like a baby._

_She helped him with the bandages later, though he complained she got them all wrong._

_Having a bath was a bit of a trouble nowadays. She had to keep reminding him they were supposed to be quiet after eight o'clock. His hands were – well… remarkably pretty, in a weird exotic way, if she didn't really think about it. But preferably, she thought her own hands were better the way they were._

_His Unique Pigment Condition was getting worse, too. He refused to talk about it anymore, not even when she tried so hard to supply a good joke about it to cheer him up – _honestly, he could be turning into a chameleon for all she knew_._ She had a cat-loving chameleon for a brother which was pretty remarkable. Maybe he'd start turning invisible too, or something. What would Dad say if he came home one evening and saw him all green-and-purple-coloured like an alien?

_But he just wouldn't laugh._

-.-.-.-

_About a week since then, Rin was as unsuccessful with her jokes. She'd pretty much given up. Why should she bother about an immature kid who only cared about his cats and otherwise was always sulking around with a storm cloud above his head? _He_ didn't seem to care about her, for one thing. He never even agreed to go play outside – not even in the garden – unless he heard a "meooow", and then Rin was completely pushed out of his attention._

_There were some other vegetables in the fridge, of course, but they weren't really meant to be eaten uncooked. They didn't look appetising at all, either._

_And of course, Idiot Len didn't tell her as usual until she'd finished eating. Her thinking hadn't extended all the way to pre-checking what was available._

_'Are there any bananas?' she asked tentatively, still feeling a bit guilty even though she wasn't to blame._

_'No.' He looked decidedly sulkier than usual._

_'It's not my fault – you should have said so!'_

_'…'_

_She _humph-_ed loudly. 'Don't worry, you can get something when Mother comes home.'_

_Len nodded, and then smiled an okay-smile. 'I'm fine, don't worry.'_

_It was Rin's turn to go mute. She really didn't like the way he was turning. Len wasn't supposed to be like that. 'Len…'_

_'I'll wait for Mother.'_

_'But Len–' she gulped. 'She'll…'_

_'It's okay.' He smiled, more cheerfully this time. 'Dad's coming home soon.'_

_'I'll… I'll help you find something!' she said. She hadn't really meant it. He hadn't eaten anything since two nights ago. She cared, actually. 'We could dig up the fridge maybe…' Rin trailed off as her chest tightened._

_'It's not a magic box.'_

_'Well – that's where you keep all the food in the house, isn't it? Where else would you find it, then?'_

_'I'm fine, Rin. Do you want anything else?'_

_'…No.' She turned away, feeling confused. _I'm fine, Rin_ – that was all he said nowadays, even though there was nothing fine about him. He was a clutz with a lousy attitude, nothing fine._

Dad's coming home soon to see me_, he'd smile, and cross out the days on the calendar. Sometimes she'd see him posing in front of the mirror, wearing Dad's old spectacles way down his nose. He'd hug his banana-striped pillow at night, and snuffle quietly into it._

* * *

It happened the same day.

It was right after the last class, during which Rin couldn't concentrate on a word the teacher was saying for probably three quarters of it. Her mind wouldn't stay off the school gate.

Would he talk to her? How would he react to her gift? Did it fit his taste? Ah, she should have worked on her cooking skills more… Maybe by some miracle the chocolate would catch his attention. What if he…

Rin had to hide her face behind her notebook as highly inappropriate fantasies charged into her imaginary vision. She struggled to block them out, focusing on the blackboard. It didn't really work, so she imagined wiping her mind clean like a slate, back to plain blankness.

'_Focus,_ class!'

She jumped. The teacher was standing several inches from her nose, right in front of her desk.

Rin tentatively peered up at her. She apparently wasn't looking at her, but somewhere further back in the classroom. Maybe someone was doodling on their notebook again? Or maybe there were some other day-dreaming girls like her. Hmm, she hadn't thought of that …

As the clock above the blackboard signalled ten minutes to the end of class Rin put away all her unnecessary pens and pencils into her pencil box, and slipped her books one by one into her bag while the teacher wasn't looking, just leaving one notebook open. She pretended to scribble notes in it but simply couldn't concentrate.

Damn – who cared about notes? This was far more important – it was once a year, and there was only another year before Kaito left school for good.

What if she missed him coming? What if he had something on today – like a Valentine date with someone– no no, she wouldn't think about that – like an outing with a friend, or some kind of important appointment – and had to rush? When the bell rang she'd run downstairs and get her shoes before everyone else came out and blocked the corridors. And then she'd wait for the rest of the crowd to catch up, and then blend in and go quickly to her usual spot at the side of the gate, so it wouldn't be so obvious she was waiting for someone. That sounded okay.

Somehow, there must have been a leakage in her deliberate mind-blank. As soon as she had decided on her route down to every precise action after the bell rang (which surprisingly didn't take so long to plan), her unengaged mind wandered off once more to the World of Inappropriate Fantasies.

One moment, he was stating in a very cool and non-stuttering manner that he had in fact had an eye for her all along. He was holding her hand. She stretched on her toes like the perfect heroine, closing her eyes, imagining the whole world envying her like mad, and… And then the next moment they were in an entirely different location with the school gate nowhere to be seen, chucked out the focus of her interest. He was laughing at something she said. While he shook his head in amazement, the scene changed around them again. Somewhere like… _his room_. She was wearing the most gorgeous night-slip her mind could ever conjure, hugging her shape perfectly, showing him she _could_ get this attractive– What the hell?

Get out, get out… back away, inappropriate. Too inappropriate.

Len on the other hand was happily snoring away on his notebook in the front seat next to hers.

Rin spotted several girls gazing dreamily at him from behind, and arbitrarily found the sight ridiculously amusing. Maybe they had some utterly different lens in their eyeballs that made a (mentally) under-developed gay idiot sleeping in class with his head dunked in his folded arms look hot. Somehow.

And then her mental vision replaced Len with Kaito (who was calmly taking notes with a very slightly sexily bored expression instead of snoring), completing the picture of her crush being gazed on at by a bunch of prepossessed fangirls. Oh no – that wouldn't do at all.

And then she realised everyone was standing up and taking their bags, already flooding out into the corridor. Rin immediately scrambled to her feet and crammed her book into her bag. Len was still asleep, somehow still unnoticed by the teacher, so she whacked him on the head as she passed by. God – she had to hurry! In that few seconds' span it took her to collect her senses, her inconsiderate classmates had already formed an unbreachable barrier between her and the exit. It seemed even more crowded than usual.

Hell.

The teacher spotted them. 'Ah – Rin, Len. Would you two mind carrying these books to my desk in the staffroom?' She motioned towards the remainder of the pile of notebooks she was carrying, on her desk.

_Double_ hell. Oh, come on. It just had to get to this.

'Sure, Miss,' Len yawned, rubbing his eyes. '…I was just going to ask, anyway,' he added with a glance towards the door.

_I'm busy!_ Rin yelled in her mind, despite nodding. _I'm very, very busy._

There were obviously way too many books for Len to carry alone. Maybe if he made two trips. But the teacher was still waiting expectantly, with her own load, so Rin reluctantly picked up the remainder of the books.

As she passed, she realised why the doorway was so crowded.

Girls.

Well, just a few, but the classroom door wasn't designed to accommodate more than two students at a time. So in a way, it was Len's fault Rin couldn't get to make her escape on time. They were waiting for Someone.

Len carefully positioned himself between the wall and the teacher so that the teacher acted like a wall between him and his bunch of fangirls and slipped past them, sneakily making his escape out of the dead corner. Rin felt like giving him a good kick for ruining her own plan.

She got delayed even more having to weave through the thick crowd after the two of them, ending up gloomily carrying a pile of books on her own. Len stopped around the corner and waited for her, like a bit of consolation.

'Come on – I want to get this done quickly,' she snapped at him, widening her strides.

'–?'

Len hurried after her as she bustled past. She shuffled down the stairs, glancing at the window every now and again though she didn't manage to see anything. Had he left already? Was he still there? Did she still have a chance of catching him? What if he left – with someone else? What if there was someone else waiting for him at _her_ usual spot with some box of famous premium-brand chocolates or what if he just simply left early? What if he left while she was here carrying books like an idiot – what if he left early?

_Bang!_

She was so preoccupied with the window that she crashed straight into someone on the stairs. At first she thought she'd run into the wall. But then she saw shoes and realised it was some_one_.

Someone in a blue scarf, with dark blue hair she'd recognise anywhere.

God. Oh god.

_God oh god oh fucking goodness oh dear._

Where the hell was Len? He was right beside her a moment ago… She needed a shield!

She could _feel_ her face going beet red. Tomato red. _Clown-nose_ red. She needed to hide. By instinct.

'I'm so sorry! Are you alright?'

It was Kaito who apologised first. Rin stared at him in a daze. Why was he apologising to her when she was the one who ran into him?

He helped her up.

Oh – she fell down?

He was holding her hand. – Well, _arm_, more accurately. _Her_ arm.

'I- I'm so sorry…' she mumbled faintly, dumbly repeating his words. Her brain felt like a dry sponge, absorbing up all the wrong useless things at a frightful pace.

'No, _I'm_ sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going.'

'Oh… uh, okay…'

Her face was growing steadily redder. She just didn't see how he wouldn't notice. She squashed down her screaming instinct to run away with all the willpower she could summon, trying hard to look straight at him. She couldn't. She could. She looked at his impossible unearthly blue eyes – and veered off-track towards the wall behind him. Did she stare too long? It felt like hours. Her heart was going like a steam engine. She looked at a point near his left ear instead, pretending to be nonchalant.

To her confusion, he knelt. She panicked and looked down at the top of his head.

The floor was scattered with books.

'…Oh.'

Rin hurriedly followed him and began collecting the books she'd dropped all over the place, careful not to bump into him again or something. In a corner of her mind, an image of her – with her limbs being all numb, it was precariously likely – falling over and landing on top of him prompted both her heart rate and blood pressure to pick up even further.

_Kaito kneeling on the floor collecting books with her_. Who'd have imagined such a turn of events? She wondered if she was dreaming.

She realised her hands were all dusty. She rubbed it clean on the side of her pants.

And then she realised what she'd just done and went even redder than she already was, if that was physically possible. She was quite sure her face was the colour of blood by now. Too late, she hastily hid her hand behind her hoping Kaito hadn't noticed.

'Are you hurt?' he asked worriedly. Like he wouldn't notice. They both looked at her now-partially-clean hand she sheepishly held out again, Kaito leaning in slightly.

'I- I'll wash it later…' she mumbled.

He was so close. She could almost feel his heat brushing her skin…

No, no, no.

_Concentrate!_

She realised Kaito was peering at her looking slightly awkward, as if waiting for her to say something.

'Uh… s-sorry, did you say something?' she squeaked.

'Um, no,' he said, laughing.

He was laughing at her.

Well, not in a bad way.

'I'd best be going, then. Do you need help carrying those books? That's a _lot_.'

'N-no, it's okay… thanks.'

'Are you sure?'

'Hmh– yeah…'

'Okay then. Bye – have a nice day!' he waved pleasantly at her as he walked down the stairs.

Don't go – don't go yet! She didn't even get to talk to him…!

Rin stood there slightly open-mouthed, unable to find her voice, gazing after him. She watched his blue bangs bounce along with the rhythm of his steps. It felt as if a gale had just swept past, leaving her still standing in the same spot.

He didn't seem to recognise her…

A cloud of undeniable disappointment descended over her.

Did he receive her chocolate? What if something happened and he never got it? Maybe he didn't notice it in his desk. Where had Le– ahem, _she_ put it? She'd told him to put it somewhere easy to find. Ah, she should have _handed_ it to Kaito, personally. She'd just lost another major chance. She didn't know who she was angrier with, Len or herself.

And then a worse thought came to her mind. What if Kaito deliberately _ignored_ it? What if he didn't care? Surely, he must have gotten chocolates from other girls too. (What if he was like Len, and gave them to someone else – that was, her, complaining he'd get fat or something while she needed "some extra cushioning on her bony ass" – after he went home?) Maybe he just put it back in his desk and forgot about it. Maybe he already had someone. Or… she didn't know.

Her bony ass wasn't even his problem in the first place.

'…_Oh_…'

And then she realised why.

'…' She was stupid.

Kaito didn't know who "Rin, G1-2" was.

It could have been any girl in G1-2 for all he knew. They'd never officially met before – how was he to know who she was or even what grade The-Random-Girl-Who-Fell-On-The-Staircase was in? He must have been puzzled receiving a valentine from a girl he'd neither met or heard of before. After all, she'd only been in this school for a year.

She felt so ridiculous and kicked the wall out of frustration. It only served to bruise her toe. Tears welled up in her eyes. He must be thinking whoever was "Rin" was a very silly person right now. How was she going to introduce herself next time? What if he didn't even remember?

She wanted to cry.

'I told you it'd hurt if you fell on that bony ass.'

She turned and found Len standing behind her. He appeared to have just come down from the top of the stairs, still carrying his load of books. Rin glared at him. 'Where the hell were you when I needed help?'

'That was really nice of him,' he said, quirking an eyebrow towards the bottom of the stairs. 'Did he kiss your hand as well, Princess?'

She furiously wiped her tears away. 'Stop mocking me.'

'You remind be of Oliver,' Len muttered. '…Somehow.'

'Oh – I haven't heard that name in a _long_ time, honestly.' When was the last time she'd seen him? Three – four years ago? 'Like several ages. I almost forgot about him.'

'Me too.'

'Seriously?'

'No.'

'So… What happened to him, anyway?' A temporary distraction from Kaito helped.

'No idea.'

'You mean you haven't talked to him since then?'

'…'

'You're terrible! Don't tell me you've only been paying attention to _girls_ and thrown out the rest. No wonder you don't have any _boy_-friends. You know I put my _friends_ first before _relationships_.'

'You don't. And it's not your problem,' he growled.

'It is! It affects _my_ reputation as well just because you're my twin.'

Len rummaged in his bag and handed her a plaster.

'–? I'm not hurt.'

'It's for your mouth.'

-.-.-.-

On the way home, Rin couldn't stop thinking of that scene on the staircase. A measure of heat still lingered on her cheeks, tingling in the soles of her feet. She didn't feel like she was walking straight. Len walked beside her with his headphones plugged in, and took no notice.

'Oh, by the way…' He suddenly fished his phone from his pocket and smirked at something on the screen. 'Hmm…'

Rin felt a sliver of panic. 'What is that?'

'Make a guess.'

'_What is that_, Len?' she demanded.

'On second thoughts I think I'm gonna keep this. Hahaha… Look at your face when he said that!' Len giggled.

Rin lunged for the phone. '_Give me that!_'

Len whisked it away out of her reach and bolted off down the sidewalk.

'Delete it – you idiot – _delete the stupid thing!_' she screamed at his back, sprinting after him.

* * *

_Aunt Jan, Aunt Jan, and Aunt Jan._

_That was all Len talked about for the rest of the week after his "visit" to Aunt Jan's. At every given moment when they were alone together – in the bath, out in the garden, in bed at night – he'd talk about Aunt Jan. He told her the same things over and over, as if she wanted to hear them anymore._

_Aunt Jan read him stories in bed. Aunt Jan showed him how to handle a frying pan. Aunt Jan bakes chocolate cookies. Aunt Jan bakes these wonders called "banana muffins". Aunt Jan stays at home all day. Aunt Jan knows how to knit. Aunt Jan gave him a ball of blue yarn. Aunt Jan did what, Aunt Jan etcetera. He seemed to think Aunt Jan was some sort of angel – though to Rin (she'd only met her once or twice) she seemed like any other aunt, perhaps a little on the unsocial, kids-should-keep-out-of-the-grownups'-way side._

_Well… to say specifically, Len _thought_ it was a "visit", but Rin knew it was a bit more than that. He'd stayed there for two months – because _Mother was very tired and he was causing a lot of trouble_. In other words, they got rid of him for a short while so they could have some _peace and quiet_. But Dad told her not to tell Len, so she kept quiet._

_But he seemed to have enjoyed being put aside at Aunt Jan's house. While he was out there having fun, Rin was sent to go stay at Uncle Bruno's place and be a good girl helping Aunt Clara with her house chores. Aunt Clara scolded her for calling Len a Garbage Junkie, even though she tried to explain to her that was his nickname. Aunt Clara scolded her again for calling him a Bitch. She didn't get why. Soon after that Aunt Clara banned any kind nicknames, saying she didn't want to hear them again. So she basically got herself on bad terms with Aunt Clara, and was left lonely and bored doing chores for two months._

_For one thing at least, Len's pigment-condition seemed to have gotten remarkably better. He looked more like a human rather than the former chameleon now – maybe it was something about Aunt Jan's house. He seemed a bit gloomy coming back home._

_'I know,' Mother said as they sat at the table for dinner, 'I'll show you how to use the pressure cooker – that'll extend your scope a bit more.'_

_Len nodded nervously, while Rin watched from across her plate of cooked vegetables and blessed _beef chops_ with proper herbs and pepper and whatever was in there that made it tasty for-the-first-time-in-a-billion-years, not just salt. (Though of course, she would have preferred it with a little less vegetables.)_

_Dad however shot Mother a sharp look. 'Are you insane?'_

_Mother shrugged coolly. 'He's smart; he should understand if I explain.'_

_'He's _five _– he'll blow up the house!'_

_'Six in a month.'_

_'He's six then, fine. He's still six. No one sane teaches a six-year-old to cook, dear.'_

_'Then what else do you suggest I do?'_

_An awkward silence suddenly hung over the dining table. Rin didn't quite get what the discussion was about, though everyone else seemed to. She found it frustrating._

_'I thought we had an agreement not to discuss this…' Dad trailed off and glanced at Len, who was looking rather miserable for some reason. And then he glanced at Rin and suddenly started laughing. 'Hahaha… Oh, I'm silly,' he smiled, scratching his head. 'How can you joke looking so serious, dear? You gave me a scare.'_

_'Of course I didn't mean it. It's common sense,' Mother laughed, sounding very strained._

_Len started laughing as well._

_Rin blinked, slightly confused, and then decided she was supposed to laugh too. But she felt a bit annoyed. Why were both Mother and Dad paying so much attention to Len while she was left alone to eat off her plate like she was non-existent? Well, there was obviously something special going on that everyone wasn't telling her. She envied Len._

_After dinner, Mother went to have a shower. Dad took Len upstairs to check on his Pigment Condition, looking all sober and unamused despite his smile. Len was wearing a weird, lax, drowsy, sort of ecstatic expression. Rin was left out of everything to sit with the TV like a little kid, all alone and frustrated._

_-.-.-.-_

_It was after some time that they heard the news._

_Well to say specifically, only Rin heard it. Dad very firmly told her not to tell Len, and act as if she knew nothing about it. He'd feel awful if he heard it, for sure. But it was hard. She didn't know how to treat Len. Mother heard and called him a curse._

_To put it short, Aunt Jan died in the hospital, about a month after he came home. Anyway – they'd sent him home in the first place because she'd fallen ill._

_That left Rin feeling worried in a very unpleasant way, even though Dad hadn't said anything._

_Was it Len's fault she got ill?_

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**So I guess this chapter's almost twice my usual length? Eh. I had a whole holiday to work on it. xP**

**Review plus fav, please? :3**


	16. Chapter 13 - The Long End of A Long Day

**Meow.**

**In SERIOUS need of a break from everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. == (I don't mean suicide okay?)**

**I might as well upload this. It's been sitting in my drafts box for ages.**

* * *

13.

Rin had quite given up trying to get hold of Len's phone; it slipped through her fingers like an eel. There was something wrong with the fluorescent silicon cover that made it feel kind of literally slimy. Len had settled down on the opposite side of the couch from her to re-watch his scoop of the day, with an infuriatingly smug look on his face.

Ah. She didn't care anymore. It wasn't worth chasing a scruffy-haired banana-loving eel around the house over.

She tried to imagine a long slimy mud-coloured version of Len with tiny flippers and a tail grandly stretched out on the couch, glancing at him through the corner of her eye. It wasn't such a bad idea… maybe next time. Decision made. One day she was going to find a way to turn him into an eel to pay back for her humiliation today.

She picked out a choice piece from her bag of cheese Doritos and crunched on it.

-.-.-.-

The lighting in the dining room was slightly dimmer than usual – an orange checked cloth was spread over the table. Len had just carried off the emptied dishes and come back from the kitchen. The clock on the wall pointed to eleven, which was kind of early for Mum, but a little late for Rin and Len to be downstairs. This was the only intermediate hour in their current daily routine with a possibility of them meeting. Except in the morning hours of course, if Mum left later than usual, but they had to rush most of the time and didn't have much of a chance to really talk to her.

'Well…,' Mum hesitated, staring down at the two heart-shaped pieces of chocolate, wrapped in ribbons. Rin yawned and gave her a sheepish grin. They'd had dinner a long time ago, but Len insisted they should wait for her to come home, and went to the length of cooking another full meal of salad, soup and mince pie for her. Mum had looked quite surprised. 'A very interesting idea, Rin.'

Rin shook her head. 'It was–'

'I know, right? She _made_ me do it,' Len complained, overriding her. He shot her a smug look, which she didn't quite understand the point of.

Mum smiled. 'Anyhow – it's very sweet of you, Rin. Thank you.'

Len nudged her calf with his toe, under the table. Rin turned to him in annoyance. He jerked his chin towards Mum, ever so slightly.

Oh.

'H- Happy Valentine's, Mum.' Rin got off her chair and went over to give Mum a hug. 'It should be Mother's Day but she couldn't wait,' Len added from his seat. Mum blinked in surprise at being hugged out of the blue, but then smiled. Rin felt as if she'd released a long, deep breath. She didn't know about everyone else, but this wasn't a common affair in this house. When was the last time she'd hugged Mum?

Len's cheeks were slightly pink, as if he'd been praised instead of her. It may have been her imagination – but his eyes glistened more than usual. Maybe it was the lighting. It probably was.

'Well, Len? Aren't you going to give me a hug too?' Mum smirked.

Len flushed. '… No thank you.'

'Oh come on,' Rin snorted.

'Don't _force_ him, Rin. It's okay if he doesn't want to.' Mum laughed.

'…'

Rin stared very pointedly at him. They both did.

'…' He flatly stared back at them, and then burst, '… Oh_, alright_! Fine then.' He got up and awkwardly wrapped his arms around Mum's shoulders with a grimace. He stood like that looking very uncomfortable for a few moments, and then hastily let go and went back to his chair. 'That's the spirit,' Rin snickered. Len ignored her. He was still bristling, as if he were sitting on pins.

Len viciously speared his half-eaten slice of pie, dicing it, quickly finished it and stormed away to the kitchen with his plate. Mum watched him in surprise, and then sent Rin a questioning look. Rin shrugged perplexedly.

'Shower?' he stormed back in and looked at both of them.

'You guys can go first. I want to finish something,' Mum shrugged. 'Don't you need to sleep soon?'

'…'

Mum smiled. 'Why?'

'–? Come on Len,' Rin got up from her chair, supplying the typical-good-children scripts he'd failed to give. 'We can finish off downstairs and go upstairs so Mum can sleep.'

'Okay.' Len trudged after her as she made her way upstairs to get her pyjamas.

-.-.-.-

'Why did you frame me like that?' Rin demanded.

They were squatting like ducks in the bathtub, side by side. As long as her ass stayed "bony", they could both fit in the little fibreglass container. Albeit a bit crammed, like sardines. Somehow, neither of them had ever questioned why they needed to share that limited space in the first place. They just climbed into the green bathwater, one followed by the other, and sat there.

Len grinned at the opposite tile wall. 'Thanks for the backup, Rin.'

'How was that a backup? I mean, why didn't you tell Mum it was your idea?'

'You don't get it, do you?'

'Huh?'

'…'

'What, Len?'

'… It's… it's embarrassing.'

Rin nearly slipped sideways. '_What?_'

'…'

'So that's it? _That's all?_'

'Oh come on! That's like – what Primary kids do. I'm not even a girl.'

She snorted. 'Are you serious?'

He may have been blushing, or it may just have been the heat from the bath; Rin wasn't sure.

'"Embarrassing"?' she repeated incredulously. '_You?_ After _cat-walking_ in a miniskirt in a class-full of Sixth Graders? After – what, snogging around fifty girls or something in plain public sight?'

'Since when did I have fifty girlfriends?' Len protested delicately. 'I don't _snog_ people. Even if I did I don't do it in _plain public sight_.'

'In other words you do,' Rin said dryly. 'In non-plain sight.'

'Do _not_! First of all I don't _cat-walk_.'

'Admit it, you do. You walk like you're in ten-inch heels.'

'I was _trying_ to imitate you. Have you ever looked at the way you walk, honestly? Like you're – Marilyn Monroe or something.'

Rin smirked. 'So you did the Marilyn-Monroe-walk.'

'…'

'You forgot to add the mole, smart-pants.'

'…Do you need another plaster?'

'No. I need a good soaping up and some quality relaxing time to myself – _without_ some twitter-machine incarnate destroying my precious peace of mind.'

'Your precious peace of mind,' Len repeated dubiously.

'Exactly. Now move aside.'

'_Tweet_.'

'And shut your beak.' A cloud of steam rose up and followed her out of the green bathwater. Rin promptly unhooked the shower from the wall and brought out her usual stool. She still hadn't forgotten they were supposed to hurry. Mum was waiting. She took her perfumed shampoo bottle, shaking the contents – the solids settled uncannily fast during winter.

Len was apparently still thinking about her "peace of mind". 'Is that some sort of adaptation from yoga?'

'No. Just shut up.'

'Hmm…' He gave a mild exclamation. 'Ah.'

'What?'

Len climbed out of the bathtub in another cloud of steam, and squatted down on the floor behind her. 'Happy Valentine's, Rin.'

She cringed in surprise. 'What?'

Len took the shower head from her. She raised her eyebrows. He ignored her look and poured the shower on her right from above, engulfing her whole head in a bubbling cascade of hot water, forcing her to shut her eyes.

'Are you somehow trying to say you think I appreciate this?' she hissed.

'Gimme that.' He confiscated the shampoo bottle out of her hand, sniffed at it once with distaste, shrugged and squeezed out a fair amount onto his palm. He foamed it up, and then began to rub it into her scalp. The scent of sweet citrus perfume spread throughout the bathroom, soaking into her skin, faintly laced with a more familiar scent that soothed out the knots of stress in her – well, she'd known it since before she was born, so to say, so it was probably just a natural reaction – and made her set her teeth in annoyance.

She did _not_ appreciate this! She was damn _fourteen_ already.

He rubbed his palms along the sides of her head, gently washing behind her ears. It wasn't… Fine. It wasn't bad. Rin reluctantly closed one eye, and then both eyes, giving in to his soft-soaping, swaying back and forth along with his hands. There was no harm in it, really.

The thick fluffy foam suds packed up her feathery hair, making soft _shwush_ sounds each time they moved. 'Do you _really_ have to use this stinking stuff?' Len complained quietly, wrinkling his nose. His hands steadily, carefully massaged her scalp with his firm fingertips, unfaltering, with just the right pressure. If he didn't remember, his hands remembered their task. Rin remembered it too. They both felt it. 'Well, I guess… it's none of my business now…' He sighed. 'D'you reckon he liked your chocolate?'

Damn… that spot behind her head. Yes, that spot, right there. Mmm…mm. That felt seriously good. She suddenly missed having her hair washed by someone like she was seven years old again. Maybe she could…

'…Hello? Rin?'

'Hm…– What?'

'I was just asking how you think he reacted – y'know, to your valentine?'

'Dunno. I guess… I _hope_ he liked it okay.'

'Just okay?' Len put in sassily. 'I was thinking your secret recipe could aim for a bit more.'

'You mean the hairdryer?'

'Could be your secret weapon maybe?'

'Don't be stupid.'

'I'm not.'

'…What d'you expect? I'm just some _First Grader_…'

'Second Grade in a bit,' he reminded her.

'Still Second Grade. And he'll be in _Seventh_ Grade then. That's like…'

'Shhh… Stop worrying.'

He pecked a kiss on her soapy shoulder, then wiped the soap suds off his lips with a_ yuck_ expression, and went on scrubbing her hair.

'Why all of a sudden?' she asked him.

'Suppose I just felt like it.'

As Len fetched the shower head to wash down the foam, she stared into the mirror, since she couldn't find anything else to stare at, and couldn't help noticing his _marks_.

Ah, yes. Len used to have what Dad had diagnosed as "symptoms of discolouration in his skin pigments". These multi-coloured blots used to keep moving all over his body, greyish, reddish, greenish, purplish or brownish, changing colour, appearing and fading off and appearing elsewhere a few days later – mostly round his shoulders and sides, and also his shins, though Rin now suspected those had just been bruises acquired from running around. Dad used to say he must have accidentally swallowed ink when he was small and it grew on him. Rin had accepted it as that… She didn't want to acknowledge why else they could be there.

To her relief back then, though, these blots didn't leave even when Mother left, so it was a lot easier to believe it was some weird rare condition.

It had eventually left him had some point, though it still came back occasionally when he was tired, and was now replaced mostly by what was known as "hickeys", these wine-coloured things, which only made their appearance every once in two weeks or so.

Not saying that was anything scarce, of course – in Rin's opinion that was still ridiculously too much.

Like today again, quite new.

Len reached for her bottle of conditioner.

'No,' she said flatly.

He stopped. 'Okay…?'

'I'll let you touch that bottle only if you promise you'll go off girls for a week.'

'_What_?'

'You heard me.'

'Why are _you_ giving me conditions?'

'Oh come on, Len.'

He sighed, shaking his head. 'Fine, fine… whatever.'

'You mean it?'

'Yeah.'

'Alright, then.'

Len awkwardly jabbed out a blob of pearly conditioner onto his palm, peering at her with a perplexed look.

An unpleasant thought struck her mind. 'You don't happen to do this to your girlfriends as well – or… something, do you?' she asked, with a sudden bad conviction.

He blinked innocently. 'You mean _this_ – as in hair-washing?'

'What else?' she peered at him suspiciously.

'Of course not.'

'_Really?_'

'Come on. How many times a day d'you think I can stand getting wet?'

Rin shook her head. 'Hah…' Like she forgot. He wouldn't.

He used to _hate_ baths – with a capital H – more than even an average house-cat would. Maybe more than a stray cat. Though that was years ago. They'd initially started off having a bath together because Rin was assigned the task of making sure he washed properly, which somehow by the time she realised it had grown into a part of their lifestyle routine. She remembered how relieved he'd looked when they first started following the new arrangement. Well… after being almost drowned, she supposed it was a normal reaction. Even then she'd felt something close to responsibility, knowing he trusted next to no one aside from her (some story back then – things used to be different). Maybe with the sole exception of Dad.

Apparently, he still wasn't fond of baths. His growing ego just pushed it to the background, probably.

By the time they were done, they were both covered slippery in citrus shampoo and honey conditioner, both reeking of it. Len was pretty much sticking to her back, sort of too preoccupied with washing off all the horrible toxic chemicals in the conditioner properly to mind much discretion. He nosed through her warm, mussed damp hair and finished off with a snuggle. When he did that, Rin couldn't help feeling he'd grown quite a lot since then; she could feel more sinew than fluff now (remarkably). She was surprised he still remembered. He always did this. …Well, he used to.

'Huh… You stink. Honestly.'

Rin grew worried again. 'Is that a general reaction of the guy population – just pretend you're part of it for the second – or just some critical girlfriend-based comment of yours to annoy me?' she asked.

'Nah… not really. It's not a bad smell. I just don't like it personally.'

'This is one of the most popular scents from this brand, you know.'

'Maybe.'

'Then what do _you_ think would fit better?'

'Why ask?'

'I'm curious.'

'Curiosity kills the cat.'

'I'm not a cat.'

'Then don't bother.'

She stared at her foggy image in the steam-clouded mirror. Flat as ever. _Flat_, like a tree. (Or even worse, a pancake.) As she stared, any confidence she had left seemed to drain away into the cold, silvery glass pane. After all, just a First Grade nobody…

An identical image was kneeling beside her, staring into her eyes through the mirror. As she focused on him, the mirror-Len grinned. 'Looking very hot there, Princess.'

'Any naked girl is to you,' she grumbled.

He brushed another kiss, this time on her cheek, with a laugh. 'Wouldn't dream of it.'

-.-.-.-

They ended up taking about twice their usual time. Rin however felt too complacent to feel much guilt. Nevermind – Mum could always follow her usual time routine. As it was, when they trooped out all pink and steaming and squeaky clean, they found her still sitting at the table with her documents.

'G'night Mum,' Rin said cheerfully, trotting off towards the stairs. Len followed her with an equally contented smile, with just a hint of additional smugness.

'By the way, Len –'

Len looked back at Mum.

'I bought you something too.' With a smile Mum held up a bunch of plastic-wrapped bananas. The grin on Len's face froze. 'I was just on time; the grocer was about to close.'

'…'

'–? Well?'

'Lucky it didn't,' Len said flatly. He stretched exaggeratedly, sauntering off with a huge cat-like yawn. '_Ahh_. I think I'm gonna sleep early today… I'm seriously tired. Those don't look too ripe yet – maybe tomorrow?'

'Maybe.' Mum mildly regarded the bunch. 'Goodnight, Len. And Rin.'

Rin stuck out her head from the up on the landing above the staircase, with a grin. 'Goodnight Mum.'

-.-.-.-

Despite his no-interest declaration earlier, Len seemed to have no reservation either against squashing up to her under the bedcovers – both of them covered up to the top of their heads. Rin's fast breaths slightly steamed up the interior of the blanket-tent. Her cheeks were glowing hot and crimson, but it was dark and it was Len anyway and she didn't care.

'Do you think I'd look better in a pink dress? Or is the white one better?'

'Pink.'

'Hmm… I guess? But wouldn't white fit more? Like, we could wear matching colours then.'

Len grinned. '_He_ can wear pink.'

'Naw! Come on, Len.' She giggled at the thought. 'Kaito in _pink_?'

His grin grew wider. 'Haha… Imagine if you showed up wearing a frilly Goth-dress and knee-high stilettos – flashing black _garters_.'

'Oh my _gawd_!' She strangled him with a muffled squeal. 'Are you crazy? All the wedding guests are gonna think I'm mad.'

'Ahahaha. A mad bride. Why not? Add cat-ears.'

'Why a cat? Make it bunny ears.'

'Yeah! He likes bunnies.'

She blushed.

Len snorted, shaking his head. 'Shit… I just had an image of him with a bunch of fluffy white bunnies in ribbons – it's so _weird_…'

Rin giggled. 'It's cute.'

'_Cute_? Kaito?'

'What?'

'I thought you said he was hot.'

'That doesn't mean he's not-cute. He could be both.'

'Honestly… I have _no_ idea.'

'Haha.'

'So…, can I join in on your honeymoon?'

'Of course not!'

'Awwh. Why not? I'll make sure I bring a camera – wait. Make it two so I can hide one in the bedroom.'

'_Len_!'

'Who's gonna cook for you both?' he challenged. 'Tell me – he's gonna have to hire a cook.'

'We're not going on some remote island, Len. Besides – with _you_ breathing down my neck? How am I supposed to…'

He bumped the side of his hip against hers. 'Have sex with him?'

'Oi!'

'Stop being a prude. What else?'

'Can't we just like… _talk_ in private or something? Like, just some peace and quiet?'

He snorted. 'About what? Junior?'

'Is that _all_ you ever think about?'

'What? You have a guy, he's fourteen, his head's probably stuffed with it.'

'Hahaha.'

Suddenly turning on a more sober note, he snuggled closer to her. 'I was joking.'

'No wonder.'

'If he messes you up Rin, he'd better not think he's leaving in one piece.'

'I know… I know,' she replied absently, scratching his imaginary cat ears.

He growled. 'I mean it.'

'Kaito's okay, Len. I know he is. What else do you want me to say?'

He still looked discontented.

'Fine… You can claw him to shreds _if_ he does. Happy? Come on. We'd better sleep if you want to wake up tomorrow.' She rolled under the bedcovers, turning her back to him.

'Hmh.'

'Goodnight Len.'

'…G'night, Princess.'

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**Review please? :3 Thanks for reading, hope you liked it.**


	17. Chapter 14

**Meow.**

**Thanks for the reviews! :33 HEYY I JUST NOTICED - I HAVE 22 REVIEWS (sorry, private joke). :D**

**Though, I'd appreciate it if you could specify what you mean exactly when you say "that" or "this" when providing improvement points… thanks.**

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14.

Tuesday, 15th February.

Rin got up in the morning, a bit groggier than usual. The blanket-roll beside her was still snoring away, a tuft of straw hair fluffing out from the top of blanket. She got dressed and did her makeup, then she whacked Len with a pillow to wake him up and went downstairs.

Mum hadn't left for work yet. She was reading the daily newspaper. Right in the middle of the table sat a fat yellow banana, drawing Rin's eyes to it like a nude supermodel pin-up. Rin wondered why it was there, but decided it wasn't that important. She fetched a bowl and box of cereal from the kitchen – somehow, she felt she wanted to be well-prepared today, though what she was preparing for, she didn't know.

Maybe… something.

Len came down a few minutes later, and likewise stared at the banana on the table. He blinked at it for several seconds, and then slid his attention away from it as if he hadn't seen anything and went to fetch a bowl, two spoons and milk from the kitchen. A miniature plastic slice of lemon glistened on his earlobe as he sat down beside Rin. Rin noted the message and wordlessly stomped on his foot.

Len hopped out of his chair and trotted back into the kitchen to fetch his coffee before Rin could land another stomp on his toes.

They sat mutely, side by side across from Mum, the only noise the sound of their sleepy munching and the occasional flip of a newspaper page. The banana sat grand and fat in the middle of the table right in between them, on neither side. Rin absently stared at it.

Who put it there, anyway?

Presently, Len reached over his coffee mug. He snagged the Forbidden Banana from the mid-void into their side of the table. 'Breakfast, Rin?'

He held it out to her.

Rin raised an eyebrow. 'Aren't you gonna eat it?'

'Nah…' He shrugged. 'I guess not.'

'Wow,' Mum cut in with a slight snort. '_Len_, not eating bananas? The next thing we know it'll be raining bacon and eggs in town.'

Rin laughed. 'Add sausages.'

Len peered at Mum. With a shrug, he peeled the banana, broke a small chunk off the top, popped it into his mouth and handed the rest to Rin.

Maybe he just wasn't hungry. Rin studied him a little closely. He was wrinkling his nose, ever so slightly.

Mum laughed. 'You sure like bananas, don't you?'

* * *

'Awwh, come on Rin!'

'You gotta try…!'

'YOLO!'

'No more cross-dressing. You make me do that again and I'll tell him.'

Len joined in to the noisy flock around her. Rin grimaced. She was wrong to even think for a moment he'd back her up.

'Ohmygod…' Renka covered her mouth dramatically. Everyone drew closer to her for the juicy announcement. 'What if it's _fate_ you ran into him yesterday?'

Even Len gasped, very girlishly. Rin stomped on his foot.

If it weren't for him, none of them would have ever known about the whole business. So much for failing to confiscate that stupid video from him yesterday.

She braked on the corridor outside G1-2. 'Stop it – all of you! Fine – _alright_ – whatever! I'll do it. Happy now?'

They all squealed their approval, Len included (hopping on one foot), dancing around her on the corridor. They applauded her like she'd just accepted a royal marriage. Rin sighed.

She had yet another headache – one that set her heart pounding just at the thought of.

And the additional blood pressure just worsened her headache.

-.-.-.-

She couldn't do it.

She couldn't do it, she freaking couldn't do it.

'…'

His sapphire eyes were magnetised. They had to be. They emitted some sort of super-strength magnetic field that pulled up all the blood in her body to her head and left her legs and all feeling like jelly.

She was going to faint. In ten seconds. She was going to make a big scene in the corridor.

'H-Hi…' she squeaked out faintly. Her hand twitched up in what was supposed to be a casual wave, which turned out looking more like a cramp.

He looked mildly surprised. 'Oh – hello.'

'_Hello_,' she echoed in a squeak.

'You're that girl from yesterday – right? I remember you.'

He remembered her…

Say something. _Say something!_

Ten seconds. Countdown nine, eight, seven…

Start it nice and slow, there was enough time – just start a normal conversation…

Six, five, four…

I like you. You're really nice. Just say it. Just casually like –

Three, two…

The bell rang.

…One.

He grinned apologetically. 'I'm sorry, I need to go back to class. Was there something you wanted to tell me?'

She shook her head frantically.

Say it – say it!

'Oh… Uh, bye.' He gave her a slightly weird look, waved and left.

'…'

Rin stared mutely at his back as he turned the corner, hand still outstretched, mouth hanging open.

It would have taken just two seconds to say it. She'd had two seconds. She could have said it.

She'd just embarrassed herself in front of him – _again_ – and she hadn't even managed to say a word to him.

She could have said it!

Tears began to well up in her throat.

'Hey… don't worry. You were doing fine. You can try again next time,' a familiar voice sounded behind her.

She turned around with a snarl, giving Len a good punch in the face.

-.-.-.-

She'd spent the rest of that lesson buried under her textbook over her desk, pretending to sleep. The last thing she wanted to do after that epic humiliation was algebra. The teacher for some blessed reason left her alone, and the afternoon went by in a daze.

Now… well, she'd been on her way home, towards the school gate as usual, until she saw two people coming her way and was forced to run for cover behind a nearby wall.

'Hey – Meiko. I managed to book two tickets for that movie premiere you were talking about – _Soundless Voice_, right? – and I thought… Would you like to go with me? Uh, this Friday?'

The girl turned around to regard him with cool eyes. '…Yes. Maybe. Thank you.' She smiled. 'You remembered.'

Kaito lost his momentum. 'You've been looking sad recently,' he said softly.

'Have I?'

'…You have. Did something happen?'

Meiko shrugged. 'I've no idea. I feel fine.'

'Oh.'

Rin gazed after Kaito with a sullen frown. He wouldn't notice her, not even look her way… not even after she'd talked to him two days in a row. The day before had just been a coincidence after all. She was back to being a no-one. For all he knew she was the same as the landscape, maybe a tree or dustbin or just thin air. To him she was virtually non-existent.

'Sorry but I have to rush. I'm going home early today.'

'Oh – okay. Would you like me to…'

'No thank you.'

'Oh… okay. Bye, Meiko – see you tomorrow.'

She'd kept telling herself this was probably all it could ever get to, but she still couldn't stop the throbbing of hurt in her chest. She'd almost, almost believed things between them (like there was anything going on in the first place) might actually change, even a little bit… But she'd just been overreacting. He'd just been nice and waited for her earlier because he was polite and didn't want to hurt her feelings, as a school senior. The thought warmed her with admiration – and at the same time only served to worsen her frustration.

'_She _doesn't look like she particularly likes him,' said a voice matter-of-factly beside her. Rin jumped with a curse.

'Len – w'tha fuck?'

'Hey, I just said it's still too early to decide, isn't it?' Len whispered, sticking to the wall next to her, eyes sparkling, looking very genuinely excited like this was some sort of kid's adventure game.

'What is _wrong_ with you?'

'Hmm?'

'Why're you stalking me around like this?'

'Well… I don't know.' He frowned thoughtfully. 'It's a first-time for me as well…'

'Stop spying on me!' she hissed. 'It's none of your business!' She shoved him away by the shoulder.

He tottered to catch his balance and shrugged, going back to his usual bored expression. 'Just thought you'd appreciate a bit of encouraging.'

'Thanks a lot, Miss Big-Nose, I _don't_ appreciate being stalked around.' Not when things weren't going well for her. She didn't need false cheer-ups.

Len sighed. 'I was just saying –'

'What do _you_ know?' she said coldly.

Meiko. The very Meiko that _perfect_ guy Kaito was staring after in frustration. Who did Meiko think she was? How she wished, how she freaking _wished_… She'd have given anything to be in that girl's place. _Kaito_, staring after _her_ frustrated that she wouldn't notice his feelings? In her dreams. That girl over there turning up her nose at her Kaito was Meiko, the girl who had everything, and Len very ineffectively consoling her over here – or just gloating over her melancholy – was _that_ specific someone who'd casually dumped that girl because she was too old for him. Her own _twin_ brother. What was so different between them that gave him such an advantage? It wasn't _fair._ Why was everyone around her so freaking _selfish_? Like Len. Len in _particular_.

Rin felt so indignant – her frustration hardened like stone as she looked at him. 'Easy for you to say. You have the sense to _complain_ to me about having to dump Meiko – because! She was too _demanding_ to suit your royal taste. You have a whole _bunch_ of sexy fangirls after your stupid ass, don't you? Don't bother talking to me. You just came to make fun of me, don't lie.'

Len gazed back at her with something unreadable wavering in his expression. '…Yeah,' he said finally, 'I randomly hook up with them as and when I like, and then pick another one when they upset me. _Don't I?_ It's really funny how they all go crazy for _moi_, isn't it? All that snogging. You can try and see if _you_ like it.'

'Why can't you just leave me alone, Len?' She couldn't stop her voice from rising. She clenched her fist. '_Why_ must you keep stalking me _everywhere_ I go making fun of _everything_ I do? Huh!? Is it _that_ funny, really?'

He tossed his hands in the air. 'Why can you _never_ be happy with things? You don't see anything, do you? What do you have so much to complain about? Why are you so fucking _paranoid_?'

'Tell me then. What am I not seeing?' Rin demanded in a snarl.

'_Oh I don't know_ – everything! You have _everything_ I –!…' He stopped and looked away.

'What?'

'…'

'_What_, Len?'

He scowled, turned his back and strode away. '…Good luck with your stalking.'

'Hey wait –!'

Rin stared after him. She was furious – maybe – but more than that she was lost. Len had never been like this to her before, or at least as long as she could remember. Not seriously. She wasn't quite sure what had just happened. The fluffy Len she knew would have laughed it off or consoled her – or started crying or something – but not this time. Why was he going so awry lately?

The stupid crows cackled.

-.-.-.-

That evening, surprisingly, they sat at the dinner table together – all three of them – to eat. Mum had for some random reason come home early in time for dinner again.

They sat in silence, munching at their slices of yesterday's mince pie.

Len knifed a portion off his helping.

'What happened there?' Mum finally opened her mouth, indicating the bruise that had appeared on Len's cheek from Someone's punch earlier during lunch break.

He tensed. The piece of pie quivered in mid-air, speared on his fork.

'Did you get into a fight?'

'…'

'…? Did you fall down?'

'…'

'Len?'

Rin cleared her throat. 'Um, that's…'

'…_Nothing_ happened,' Len cut her short. He smiled at Mum.

A very brief staring match commenced, and ended in less than two seconds.

The bite-sized piece of pie unfroze, and disappeared into Len's mouth. Mum delicately dabbed at her mouth with a napkin, while Rin blinked at them both quizzically.

-.-.-.-

For some reason, she couldn't sleep that night. She'd fallen asleep at first, but then about an hour later, she woke up again. She turned over and over, eventually flattening her pillow like a pancake and making it even more uncomfortable. She wanted something other than a pillow.

Like a bolster. _Her_ Bolster.

Len wasn't there… _again_.

She'd wanted to ask him about what was going on with him recently. Or – at least say something to get her good old obedient bolster back.

She realised that in some corner of her mind despite being asleep, she'd been aware of and was _used to_ his absence. She'd just assumed he was always around. She wondered where he'd disappeared to. Maybe he was sleeping in his cupboard as usual. He always did that when he was feeling screwed, since the time he was one-third her current height and even now when he was fourteen.

She ignored the deserted, hollow feeling emanating from his cupboard. Her sixth sense had never been reliable. He had to be in there.

In a way, she felt a bit lonely.

* * *

Wednesday, 16th February.

Rin had the evening all to herself, sinking into a dull melancholy mood as she watched the dumb comedians on TV dive into a giant cream pie.

Len came home at nearly eight, without any earrings. It was almost as weird as seeing him without a ponytail. Just weird. He tossed his bag on a chair, washed his hands and put on his apron without a glance at Rin.

'Hey,' she said tentatively.

She only received a grunt in reply.

Was he still going on about that fight yesterday?

Mum didn't come home early that night, so they had a very quiet, lonely meal.

Maybe she could talk to him in the bath.

She opened the wooden sliding door of the changing room to find a partially stripped Len doing some very strange things on the floor. Both her eyebrows rose high.

'…What're you doing, Len?'

He peered up at her from under his foot, trying to keep his limbs in place. 'What does it look like?'

'Umm… No idea.'

'It's called yoga.'

'…Hardly looks like it. Stop mocking me,' Rin snapped.

'I'm not.'

'On the _bath mat_?'

'What?'

'Since when did you do _yoga_, Len?' He didn't exactly look like he was succeeding, whatever pose he was trying to fix. He looked more like a cat trying to get rid of a flea on its rump. Rin snickered. 'I think… you're too stiff.'

'Oh shut up. You try, then.'

She snorted. 'No thanks.'

'Come on.'

'No. You know, I somehow doubt you can achieve any _peace of mind_ doing that?'

'Hm.'

'I mean…'

'Guess you're right.' Len untangled his legs. He wove his fingers together and stretched, accompanied by a series of loud cracking noises and a _mrowl_, and got up with a wince, rolling his shoulders. 'Proves my point, I guess. Yoga doesn't help people.'

'_That_ was your point in doing that?'

'Yes. Why?'

'Um, because…' Rin's eyes inadvertently shifted away from his face, downwards. She stared for several incredulous moments, and then exploded in a fit of giggles. 'Ahahahahaha…'

'…!' Len instantly blushed. 'Oh, come on! You don't have to laugh _that_ much. I felt ridiculous enough already!'

'Hahaha… Oh, god…' She couldn't stop laughing. Hearts. Rubber ducks, cupcakes and squeaky red hearts marching in rows all over his flamingo-pink boxers. Rin collapsed against the wall, gasping for air. 'Nice pants, Len.'

'_Not_ my choice!'

'Then who? Renka…? Nah, doesn't look like her kind of taste…'

'Hm, true.'

Rin peered at his ridiculous boxers, pretending to be serious. 'Then who?'

'…'

'Come on Len – out with it.'

'…Ia.'

'_Ohh_. Ia. No wonder.' Rin snickered. 'Wow.'

Len scowled. '…'

'Y'know, it actually looks _almost_ sane on you. Pretty… _breezy_? She overestimated your size, I think.'

'…You don't say.'

'Or she forgot to account for your _curves_.'

'Bah.'

'No, seriously.' A smirk crept into her face. 'I think it's good.'

'_How?_'

'It saves the effort of having to pull them down. Nice and sleek – pretty smart.'

'…'

Rin could feel him still simmering behind her when she turned her back, leaving him alone to the inescapable scrutiny of the changing room mirror.

* * *

Thursday, 17th February. Len seemed to have developed a sudden infatuation for TV games and refused to go to sleep. Rin eventually gave up warning him about Mum coming home and scolding him for being downstairs again, and started on a hopefully temporary and rather glum new routine of going to sleep alone.

Was it about the boxers, or the argument at school – or both?

Or maybe neither.

* * *

Friday, 18th February. The bedroom was chilly. She brought in an extra blanket for herself from the storeroom.

…

They must have gone out to the movies today. That girl and Kaito.

A picture of that girl leaning her cheek against his shoulder swam behind her eyelids, in the darkness of the cinema in her head. She cried herself to sleep.

* * *

Saturday, 19th February. Len made burnt eggs and scrambled toast for breakfast. They hardly talked that day. She purposefully walked into him in the bath. …Well, it wasn't like they didn't usually go in there together, but they weren't so pressed for time during the weekend so it wasn't really necessary. She wanted to catch him before he sank into the green bathwater like usual and waited for her to leave first. (For one thing, she doubted Len would _float_. He didn't seem to have that much floatable material on him – so naturally, he _sank_.) He seemed rather reluctant to be seen.

And besides, that was about the only time he seemed in a mood to talk, recently.

Rin casually hummed and pretended to take no notice of him.

More bruises. _Again_. They weren't just _ordinary_ bruises. If the TV-game obsession had anything to do with the same girl responsible for those – whoever she was – there were quite a few things Rin wanted to say to her. Or maybe if it really got to that, she'd just settle for a good punch.

Maybe it was his bony ass that made the bruises worse when he fell on it, she reflected.

* * *

She wasn't _afraid_ to sleep alone. Not anymore. She was just a bit… lonely.

She used to be scared. Long, long ago… before Mum came to this house. Before that, she didn't know what was an actual nightmare and what wasn't. It was all just… different.

Yes, _her_. Those afternoons they'd spent huddled side by side in the dusty attic, stiffling back tears, clutching each other's hands, waiting for her to let them out.

Len used to hum for her, up in the attic – in his off-tune, cracked voice, fitting her ears in a strange, lilting, comfortable way, in a way it did only for her ears. She was just as off when it came to singing, and so were her ears. But listening to him made her like it that way. She'd close her eyes and tilt her head to the side to listen, relaxing, sometimes joining in in an eccentric off-tune harmony, and any place they were would be home – even the cold, dusty, cobwebbed floor of the attic.

Sometimes, weird thoughts would press against the back of Rin's mind – that Len might have been different, if not for _her_. Even though she couldn't remember what he'd been like before that. That was way too long ago. But sometimes… she couldn't help feeling, Len was never exactly the _same_, in a very obscure way that was difficult to describe. For the better or worse, she didn't know – she doubted she ever would. He learned to cook for example – but at the cost of permanent burn marks all over his hands. For one thing, he'd grown fanatically and annoyingly protective of her.

…Or until a few years ago it seemed, when he started obsessively going out with other girls.

Now, he never sang. Thanks to his enormously enlarged ego.

* * *

Monday, 21st February. Their year-end exams started. Five more days till those were over, and then another two weeks till the holidays. The new school year was starting on the 4th of April.

* * *

Thursday, 24th February. Len kept insisting she eat the banana on the dining table every morning. Or once every other morning or so – it was really random and meaningless. If there was anything unusual at all, there was a price tag on that particular banana that morning. Len saw it, apparently found something about it very funny and snorted his coffee out through his nose. Rin didn't quite get the joke. Despite having declared bananas were his life-long love he refused to eat that particular one. Maybe he had preferences about bananas that weren't visible to the regular human eye. Maybe that particular banana on the table didn't appear sexy enough to suit him, because if she remembered right he used to eat the bananas on the table until several months ago when he stared making _her_ eat them for "breakfast". This morning again, he handed it to her with a look of handling something rather repulsive.

She concluded that this was some sort of magical banana that mysteriously appeared on the dining table on random mornings, and Len only liked ordinary non-magical bananas because he could never get the better of magical ones. Like girls.

* * *

Saturday, 26th February. Why wasn't it getting any warmer? It was the end of February for damned sake. The bed was too big for her alone. She wanted to hurl the damned TV game set out of the window. No, she wasn't about to demand he choose between her and the game set – he'd already made it clear, and besides, they weren't in some relationship or anything so there was completely no reason why she should – but still…

She punched his unoccupied pillow, but it dumbly sat there with the dent she made in it, taking no notice of her.

The room was too quiet.

Rin sat up. Was Len still downstairs? Maybe he'd known Mum wouldn't come home for a few weeks, and that was why he took the opportunity to play TV games since there was no one to come home and scold him. She almost wished he'd invited her in.

No, no. She wasn't going to sleep late just because Mum wasn't coming home tonight. It was just…

She pivoted around on her butt, and placed her feet on the floor. She could go downstairs right now and find out what exactly it was he needed to do at this time of the night rather than any other time in the day. Maybe one of his girlfriends was like Carmilla and turned him into a vampire. So he needed to go out to restock his blood supply. That would explain his recent rejection of his life-long love (not oversleeping, bananas).

…Ridiculous.

If he really was one, there was a convenient snack right here next to him (moreover on a bed conveniently), no need to bother searching. (That was going to be his last day on Earth whether alive or half-alive, of course.)

'…'

She didn't really want to know. Somehow.

Her toes once more left the carpet, buried themselves under her layers of blankets, and lay there quietly.

When the sun rose, Len was asleep beside her, dark smudges under his eyes, snoring away peacefully.

* * *

**Yaaaayy it's the holidays again, finally! :DD Rin's spring holidays coming up soon, watch out for prom night.**

**As much as I'd like to keep the number at 22... Please do review. ;3**


	18. Chapter 15 - Eren Jaeger

**Meow.**

**One long chapter coming up.**

**I wrote this while listening to 96Neko-san's cover of ****_This is the Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee_**** so parts of it may be a bit crazy. xP ****Ugh… That stupid toilet paper monologue's gotten stuck in my head. Pf.**

**Once again, to remind you, the part in Italics is something like a flashback.**

* * *

15.

_The departing morning of their first three-day Primary Three excursion was pretty chaotic._

_It started off with Rin jumping out of bed to find that she'd woken up fifteen minutes late and hadn't even packed her bag. Just halfway. It lay floppily on the floor like melted raspberry ice-cream with half of its contents slopping out, like a lolling tongue. Rin swore as she squirted out excess toothpaste all over the sink, brushed her teeth and tumbled about the room collecting all her additional whatnots, still swearing. Len had just woken up and was trying to change, but then started wailing about some sort of sticky white stuff. Rin was too busy to pay much attention._

_He almost fell off the mattress in horror. He tossed his pants out of bed, dove under his blanket refused to un-bury his head from under his pillow until Rin virtually had to strip him of every single blanket and pillow and bolster and plushie on the bed. He was shaking like hell._

_Like she wasn't dealing with enough already._

_With a sigh, Rin discreetly pinched a corner of his abandoned pants and transported it to the laundry basket._

_He was still in hysterics when she got back from the laundry room with all her three days' worth of change and a very quick breakfast downstairs, pacing up and down the room like a retarded clockwork mouse. He looked like he was on the verge of screaming his head off. Then windows and mirrors were going crack._

_'It's normal. Calm down. Now start packing,' Rin ordered._

_He whined._

_'The world's still in one piece,' she snapped. 'Help me get the sleeping bags from the attic.'_

_The reply was an incoherent wail._

_'Len!'_

_'_Aaaaargh…_'_

_She threw her hands up in exasperation. 'Fine – whatever!' She stomped off to get the sleeping bags herself._

_Len abruptly braked, staring after her with wild eyes, panting and, seeming to calm down a little after a minute or so, stared at the mess on his hands, doubled over, stumbled to the bathroom and was magnificently sick._

_Then he broke down over the toilet bowl._

_Now that was quite a thing to watch, if anything. Rin stood waiting at the doorway in disbelieve as he sobbed and threw himself on the floor in a pile and attempted a suicide and threw up again did whatever people normally would do in a horrific tragedy of some sorts._

_He almost managed to convince her there was something majorly wrong. Probably with his mentals._

_Then he started running around everywhere like a cat on a frying pan, wailing his head off and banging into the walls, until Rin had no choice but to pin him down on the couch before he cracked his skull on the corner of a table._

_'Rin… help –' he sobbed. 'Help…'_

_'Don't worry, it's normal.' Wasn't it?_

_'What's wrong with me?'_

_'Nothing's wrong.' Why was _she_ having to do this?_

_She patted his back soothingly. He cringed away with a snarl._

_'Hey… Calm down.'_

_'I don't want…!' He crushed the cushion under his head. 'I don't want to turn into a–' He hiccupped shrilly. 'A…'_

_'Shh- sh. It's alright, Len. Come on, get up. We gotta leave soon.' The clock ticked on mercilessly. Rin was growing irritable. Len moaned._

_'Don't tell Mum… Please don't say…'_

_'Alright, deal. Come on, let's –'_

_'Help –' he choked. 'I'm not a freak… I'm not –'_

_'Shh…'_

_'Get this out of me! Get this _thing_ off me –'_

_'Get _what_?'_

_He screamed at her._

_-.-.-.-_

_'Ohh look, a flying banana!'_

_Rin waved the banana in the air above his head, mimicking a _woosh_ sound._

_He utterly ignored her._

_'Len!' she finally shrieked. She'd had enough. 'You're going to ruin_ my_ school trip as well…' She felt like crying._

_He'd buried his face in his knees some while ago and just wouldn't look up no matter what she tried. _

_She'd promised to go shopping with her friends. They were supposed to share snacks in their dorm after all the lights were out. They'd arranged to bring torchlights and chocolates and crisps and biscuits. She'd even bought a new pair of pyjamas just for that._

_Why was it always her who had to go through these things? Why did she always have to deal with him and his insane mood swings? Why was Mum or Dad never there? Why didn't they send him to a community school? He wasn't _normal_ – they could all see that._

_A soft sob leaked out of her._

_Len slowly looked up at her quivering lip, and visibly sank even further. He curled into a heap on the floor, pressing his face into the carpet._

_'I hate you…' Rin whispered._

_He didn't react, and neither of them moved any further._

_-.-.-.-_

_Rin looked up dazedly when the doorbell rang._

_Was it the newspaper?_

_What time was it?_

_What did it matter. The bus must have left by now. Her classmates would all be well on their way now, having fun. They would have forgotten about her by now._

_The bell rang again, loud and insistent. She got up from the sofa and dragged her heavy feet to the front door._

_Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the faces of her three BFFs, Oliver and the class prefect clogging up the doorway._

_'Rin! Why're you still at home? You won't answer any of our calls – aren't you coming?'_

_'Wh- where's Len?'_

_'You promised to bring the crisps!'_

_'We thought you were sick or something.'_

_'Where's Len?'_

_'Come on – the bus's still at school. The driver had to fix the engine so we came to check on you.'_

_Rin's heart soared. 'Really?' she breathed._

_'Where's Len?'_

_She distractedly flicked her hand behind. 'In there.'_

_Oliver peered into the living room and spotted Len, who looked positively terrible._

_'Len…!? What happened?'_

_Rin patted his shoulder. 'Don't worry, he's fine!' Probably._

_Yuki (a perfect girl and the class prefect) smiled a bit awkwardly. 'Uh, if he's coming… He'd better put on a uniform, you know. Or… at least a shirt maybe? And – uh – pants.'_

_'I'll, um… help.' Oliver kicked off his shoes and scuttled in past Rin._

_They virtually had to drag him all the way to school so the bus wouldn't leave them behind, all soggy, puffy-eyed and pathetic and still sulking resentfully._

_His earrings for that morning (he somehow hadn't forgotten through all that hysteria) were hot-pink rings, with a diagonal arrow sticking out of them each. Rin couldn't help thinking his pick was rather self-abusive._

_At least, Oliver was nice enough to keep him company._

* * *

Rin opened the wooden sliding door of the changing room to find a partially stripped Len doing some very strange things on the floor. Her eyebrows rose even higher.

'_Again_, Len?'

He peered up at her from under his foot, while (frantically) trying to hold his limbs in place. 'Why?'

For a few seconds, she struggled to find a sane reply.

'Reckon I'm getting any better?'

'I doubt it.'

'…'

Len slowly untangled himself, sitting on the floor. He cracked his spine.

'You'd normally expect to find guys doing something like _push-ups_ in their boxers but seriously – _yoga_, Len?'

'What?'

'Don't you ever get… _embarrassed_?' Rin asked him.

'Until you came in, no.'

'Me?'

'The same way people aren't embarrassed being seen naked by their clothes – who's gonna see here – the washing machine?'

'Good idea. If it sees you being so stiff it'll think twice about ingesting you next time. Reckon you'd still fit?' (Back then when he was five, if she remembered right, he'd almost drowned in the washing barrel.)

'…Seriously?'

'Hahaha. Imagine if they tumble-dried you – you'd be even shorter than you are now.'

'Oh, come on… You just _had_ to mention that.'

'Aww, Len… Look on the bright side – you can still pass for a shota for several more years.'

'Ugh!' Len's face went red. 'I am _not_ a shota!'

'Better start on your yoga training, then. You could like – _stretch_ your spine a bit if you tried, maybe? Y'know, just a few inches…?'

'I hate you,' Len muttered.

Usually, Rin won without exception.

* * *

It was lunch break. They'd finished their exams yesterday.

Len somehow saw the necessity to forsake his ritual visit to the girls in the seniors' classroom to escort her to the girls' bathroom downstairs, since the bathroom on their floor was under repair. A burst pipe had apparently flooded the whole corridor last night.

Well, so long as he didn't plan to guard the door or something, she didn't mind too much.

On the way, they ran into the trio who were hanging out together as usual.

'What's that?' Rin asked, indicating the pieces of paper they were holding.

Renka waved her paper in front of her. 'It's a form – there's a list of extra-curricular clubs.'

'Oh wow…' Rin blinked in amazement at the long list of activities to choose from. 'Sports and Athletics, Basketball, Volleyball, Baseball, Football, Brass band, Arts, Drama, School Choir, Book Club, Dance Club, Gimnastics, Cooking… hmm.'

'Lily's staying with the Dance Club. Me and Renka – we're joining the Brass Band next year. Which one d'you reckon you'll join?' Neru asked her. Club activities started from Third Grade, with joining at least one club a compulsory rule.

'I dunno… Book Club maybe? It sounds the easiest,' Rin laughed. 'Just read books.'

Renka shook her head. 'Nuh. They say you have to write feedback essays for every book you read.'

Rin pretended to throw up. 'Okay, bad idea.'

'And Nuko Len-Len is joining the choir,' said Lily. They all burst out giggling while Len went red in the face. 'I can't sing,' he complained.

'You don't have to. All you have to do is pose there looking pretty in a tutu,' Rin snorted.

'_Hey_!'

'Don't forget the pink wings, yeah?'

Len looked mortified.

'Hahaha – Rin that's mean,' Neru laughed.

'That's only because you haven't seen him in it.'

Neru raised an eyebrow. 'You have?'

'Yup, complete in _full_ makeup.' Rin elbowed Len's arm. 'Go on – you tell them.'

He glowered at her.

'Ohmygoodness, _seriously_?' Lily cracked up. Renka went slightly pink and became suddenly interested in the opposite window.

* * *

They were creating bookstands for the graduating Seventh Graders, by some mad idea of the Art teacher's.

It was an age-old tradition (or something similar was) in most schools to build something at least half useful to present to the Seventh Graders on their graduation day. Everyone hated it, except for the enthusiastic teachers who cheerfully laid out the plans.

Everyone muttered curses under their breaths as they worked. The classroom air was stuffed full of sawdust, sandpaper and spray-paint particles, stinking with fresh wood-varnish. The painting was okay; the problem was cutting out the pieces of wood parts straight to begin with, and then _carving_ them before the painting came in.

How the bloody hell the Art teacher came up with the idea of carving bookstands, no one knew – but there were some rumours about it having to do with the involvement of Green Gables. (Her real name was Anne, until Len randomly nicknamed her that and it accidentally stuck with everyone. She was the nerd girl of Class G1-3 who'd been one of his girlfriends for about a month last year, until she actually realised what _Len G1-2_ meant and decided he wasn't her type after all.)

That was when a smiling Grade Six girl opened the classroom door. 'Hello everyone, –'

She paused mid-sentence as Len strode towards the door.

'Bathroom,' Len called to the teacher, waving his hand over his shoulder.

The girl stiffened as he carelessly shoved past her. Suddenly, she looked a little unsure. 'Ah, well…' She swallowed, staring down the corridor.

For all his refined, well-honed senses concerning the fine arts, the Art teacher seemed to be exceedingly blind to the obvious things in ordinary unsophisticated life. Or maybe he just chose to ignore it. 'Everyone, say hello to Miss Sakine. What do I say, always greet your seniors.'

"Hello Miss Sakine…" the class intoned.

'So, Meiko,' the Art teacher beamed at the chestnut-haired girl, who hastily recollected herself, 'What brings you down here today?'

'May I have permission to speak to your class, sir?' Her tone had a strange, flat quality to it.

'Of course you may.'

Meiko raised her voice. Though the male half of the class was preoccupied mostly by her fairly large and shapely bust line, which she appeared not to notice. 'Hello everyone. As I think you've read on the poster downstairs when you came to school this morning, this year since there are too few members in the School Choir, the Event-Organising Committee has decided to recruit student members to join. We've made a full list of students, also based on the opinions of School Choir members, so I'll call out the names of the Grade One students in order now:

'Yuki, William, Maki, Rei, Mizki, Galaco, Cul …Rin, and Len.' She addded so softly Rin almost missed it.

She _had_ just said "Rin and Len", hadn't she?

Was she fucking out of her mind?

Even the Art teacher looked surprised. 'Well, well… We're sure to have an interesting performance this year aren't we?'

Snickers rose from the class.

'Silence,' the teacher snapped irritably.

Meiko was gazing absently into the space somewhere above the empty desk in the front of the class. Her chocolate irises flickered as they focused on the carved pattern of a cat on the side of the unfinished bookstand on the desk.

Then she looked up, as if shaking a thought off her mind. 'We'll be holding practice sessions in the Music Room on the second floor every day from five, starting tomorrow, so please come whenever you can make it if you've been selected as a member. Thanks for listening.'

Meiko turned heel like a typical Sixth or Seventh Grader, bowed curtly to the teacher and left.

Rin covered her face behind her hands. She was beginning to sweat already.

What on earth were they going to do?

Surely those Seventh Graders or whoever had decided on this year's batch had known just how _bad_ her singing was. And so was Len's. No one in their right minds would appoint them.

Oh, no… Kaito was going to be watching. She was going to completely disgrace herself in front of…

A thought occurred to her.

What if _Meiko_ had appointed her in that post for exactly that purpose? After all, Meiko was officially supposed to be something like his girl. And she was the deputy head of the school Event-Organising Committee. Perhaps Kaito had told her about that Valentine chocolate. What if she'd added Rin in the choir _knowing_ she was terrible at singing, in order to embarrass her in front of Kaito and make it clear who his girl was?

Like she'd even been a match against Meiko in the first place.

She felt like crying.

She was _not_ about to cry in the middle of a class, in front of all her classmates.

But hmm. Maybe they'd let her go if she cried and said she didn't want to sing.

Calm down, calm down…

It was alright. She didn't need to cry. All she needed to do was stand on the stage behind the others and open her mouth wide in the imitation of singing, and everything should be fine. Right?

She sincerely hoped it would be.

Ironic that Len was now actually joining the choir after all.

She torpidly glanced over at Len, who had ghosted back in and was engrossed in his task of digging at his block of wood with a chisel, biting on a corner of his lip. The design was fairly predictable: a cat, perched on a banana-shaped moon.

Len tartly told her, hers was even more predictable.

A Titan, simply put.

The panel on the other end – quite obviously – was occupied by a certain famous human with a 3DMG. It wasn't exactly a new thing, and the series had concluded several years ago, but the gory concept never really died. She'd just thought the Seventh Graders (being a generation from six years back) might appreciate it.

After all, the teacher did say "anything you like".

Now she sorely regretted her choice of design she'd sleepily decided on at three in the morning on a random Monday, following a weekend of procrastinating (watching said anime on archive) ignoring the glare of her blank _My Personal Design and Ideas_ form given to them all by the deeply inspired Art teacher. Gouging out a fat titan with a chisel was plain torture. She almost wished she'd settled for a plain, simple, lovable satsuma. Even a fluffy rabbit or road roller would still have been better.

The Art teacher phantasmagorically interpreted her carving of the titan as "wonderful memories in the biology lab". Rin tried to hide the other end of her bookstand, but he insisted she show it ("_Everything is art, dear_"), and Len who happened to be beside her charmingly (annoyingly) destroyed the image by explaining _very poetically_ that the boy in the picture was chain-sawing his way through the Sky of Mysteries and that the random anatomical model of the musculoskeletal system on the other panel had suddenly come to life to wave and say hello to him – to which the delighted Art teacher burst into an onslaught of passionate lectures on the Wonderful Magic Powers of the World of Art.

When the teacher finally took a ten-second break to get a drink, Rin looked behind her shoulder to find Len snoring on his feet, leaning against the blackboard.

Everyone was compelled to stay back at school until six to polish up their bookstands using sandpaper, in preparation for base-coating the next day. Those who still didn't manage to finish their work were then compelled to take back their bookstands to finish them at home.

* * *

Rin's bookstand stood solidly and uncompromisingly on the coffee table, waiting there to be finished up or else look like a total failure when painted. Unless the surface was very smooth, painting was going to be hell.

Her arms were already aching from meticulously sanding the tiny carved intricacies on her impractical design of a titan with abs. She wasn't _slow_ – she would have finished about the same time as Len if not for all the details.

There was just too much detail. The sandpaper was too coarse. She wasn't even sure whether the sanding was actually improving or worsening the surface.

'Come _on_. Why can't you help even a tiny bit?' she grumbled loudly, stretching her cramped arms as the smell of stewing leek soup wafted from the kitchen.

The microwave beeped.

'Later.'

'It's _your_ fault. You could have said something when I was doing the design and I would have done something simpler.'

A loud sigh issued from behind the kitchen door.

Rin glared at the titan on the bookstand. '…What're you looking at?'

It ignored her and sat there, mouth lolling in a permanent gape.

Len sat down on the couch beside her. He folded his knees under him and gestured dully.

She flopped her arm into his lap.

He rolled his eyes.

She switched on the TV and ignored him. His hand gripped her forearm, and gently started kneading the sparse lining of cramped muscle.

'Dad called last night,' he said flatly.

'Oh.'

'He said he's coming home this weekend. …For a change,' he added in a low mutter.

'Hmm.'

'Reckon we should tell Mum?'

'Obviously.'

'Can you?'

'Yeah, whatever.'

'Thanks.'

'Pfff…' Rin sighed, glancing at the hardly smooth surface of the bookstand. She'd gone over it once, but it didn't seem to be nearly enough. 'Guess I'll just deal with it later… I'm going to have a quick shower,' she muttered. She pulled her hand out and strolled off, leaving Len on the couch.

And yet somehow she still hoped – the teacher would come up with another project just for the following year, for the following year's Seventh Graders. She'd think of a more appropriate, becoming, likeable design that everyone was going to envy, work hard on it, and pray it'd somehow find its way into Kaito's hands.

On reaching the changing room, she decided to run the taps and have a good warm soak after all.

* * *

By the time she finally exited her over-extended procrastination bath and went back upstairs, the pot of leek soup was ready for serving, left to cool on the kitchen stove. Len had stuck a heart-shaped Post-it on the stove next to it.

Shaking out still-damp strands of her blonde hair, Rin bonked down grandly onto the bed with a huge sigh. Bouncing on her butt after a hot bath felt strangely refreshing. She began to realise she was actually very tired.

Oh, damn. She'd forgotten her stupid bookstand downstairs. She had to finish it by tomorrow.

But the bed was so soft and springy, and…

'_Mf_–!?'

Something swatted her down sideways into the mattress. Her head collided with her pillow with a soft _poof_.

Something like a scruffy, blonde octopus.

'_Len_,' she growled through her teeth, 'I gotta finish off that stupid titan – hey – lemme go!'

He gave a huge yawn, cuddled her with all eight limbs and pulled the blanket over their heads with an unworried, affectionate purr.

'Len.'

Silence.

'Len. Get off me!'

He continued to ignore her.

'Lemme switch off the light at least, come _on_.'

Snore.

'Len…'

She gave up.

* * *

She woke up in the morning, washed her face and went downstairs to give her cursed bookstand one more good glare before she had to take it to school.

She'd have to think of a good excuse to give the Art teacher. Maybe she could do a bit more during break-time, before the class started.

She found the bookstand on the coffee table where she'd left it last night. It was polished virtually squeaky – slightly matted, but otherwise furniture-squeaky. Len was lounging on the couch painting his nails, checking phone messages. 'You took long enough. I thought you weren't going to wake up or something. I was just planning to buy a coffin.'

Rin scurried over to the bookstand and gaped at it. 'How did you…?'

Len held up what resembled a ginormic spongy rainbow-coloured ice cream stick, waving it around with an annoying smirk.

She snorted incredulously. 'Are you serious?'

_A nail buff?_

'You polished a _bookstand_ with a giant _nail buff_?'

He shrugged. 'Do you need one? I have a lot more.'

'Exactly how many fingers do you have that you need to use them on, Len?'

'Eleven,' he said, holding up two.

'…'

'No, wait. My mistake – it should be twenty-one, when you add ten more.' He raised his foot to eye-level, wriggling his plastic-perfect toenails. They were painted fluorescent pink.

Rin picked up her bookstand to examine it.

As it turned out – forget the damned titan for a second – Eren was relatively okay. The Seventh Graders would probably recognise him.

With a pleased exclamation, Len held up his hand under the light to examine his handiwork, each nail painted horizontally half-in-half in fluorescent shades of pink and yellow gradation.

'Damn,' Rin commented mildly.

* * *

Nothing much happened at school that day.

They both ditched singing class.

* * *

'Don't push any f– _Ow_! Agh… oww… Stop it! Get off me – _ow_…!'

Rin staggered against the cabinet, swearing. She clutched at her hip with a wince.

Len mildly raised his eyebrow.

'What are you _made_ of?' she growled irritably.

'Uh – all sorts of complicated protein molecules, I guess?'

'Then have some fucking mercy on those who aren't!'

'Oh come on. I didn't know you were _that_ stiff. You being a girl and all…'

'Just shut up will you?'

'Hey – I was just trying to help! I'm sorry,' he laughed.

'No you're not.' Rin grimaced, hobbling towards the rattan stool in the corner. 'Ugh…' Len pushed it under her aching butt. Her overstretched joints screamed abuse. She sank into the stool with a wince.

Len went back to his bathmat, sat down and started bending in a way she'd never imagined anything partly male could. Now that she'd tried it herself, she found it rather improbable that her _brother_ would manage it.

Still, he somehow did.

She muttered a curse under her breath. '_Bones_. Are _not_ meant to be moved that way, I tell you. The writer of that book's insane.'

'Dunno… This is the only one I managed to do so far.'

'There must be something majorly wrong with you, then.'

'You don't say.'

'Have you even _heard_ of any men who've managed to do that in any part of the world?'

'No.'

'…Seriously?'

'Yeah. It's the Ladies' Edition.'

* * *

During the next Art class at school, Rin retrieved her tubes of red, yellow, green and blue paint from her paint box in a spark of inspiration and proceeded to paint a Picaso-version of a carved titan on her very unique bookstand. Eren turned blonde.

The Art teacher was absolutely delighted and showed it to the whole class. Rin swiftly got up and excused herself to the loo.

Everyone's howls of laughter followed her out of the classroom.

Len looked up from painting his spotted blue banana, peering around at everyone, and mildly raised an eyebrow at the rainbow-coloured titan.

* * *

It was the first week of March; it was unusually chilly tonight. Len seemed to have bored of his temporary infatuation with TV games and came to sleep early for a change. He swore with a shiver and delved deeper under his blankets. He obviously hadn't thought of what Rin had done for herself.

He rolled across the mattress and collided with her back like a magnet. He pressed his nose in his favourite spot between her shoulder blades, squirming to find a comfortable position.

Rin smiled, feeling complacent.

…Until he stuck his hand under the bottom of her nightdress.

She opened her eyes in surprise. Before she could shove him away, there was the sound of something adhesive being ripped off, quite loud in the silence.

Rin scowled. 'Put that back. I need it!'

'You shouldn't use it.'

'It's none of your business.'

'Sure, you're hot enough without burns. On your _ass_ of all places.'

She snatched the piece of white adhesive back from him. He snatched it right back and threw it at the bin across the room. It missed its mark and stuck on the side of her cupboard instead. It looked so odd sticking there that they both broke into snickers.

'Nice aim,' Rin remarked sarcastically.

'Were you gonna _sleep_ with that? Are you crazy?'

There was a certain violation in her being robbed of her good idea. And besides, _he_'d started it by giving her a packet of them in the first place. 'Just because you disagree with people doesn't make them _crazy_, you… you pervert.' She struggled to find a good word to dump out her irritation on him.

He sleepily tried to placate her with a loud yawn. 'You're gonna get burns.'

'No I'm not. It's not _that_ hot.'

'It's proven. Wanna see for yourself?'

'Are you asking me to _look_ at your ass?'

He snorted. 'As far as I know you're the only idiot who sticks a carbon warmer on her butt.'

'As far as I know you're the only person who sticks his hand in any girl's skirt,' Rin retorted.

'On a bed?'

'Yeah, _that_.' She aimed a kick at his shin. 'I was two seconds short of tasering you.'

'Sure?'

'Wanna try again?'

'Trust me, you'd be the last person on earth I'd want to _do_ it with.'

'Same here.'

It was a rather queer thing to say, considering he was sticking to her back like microwaved cling-wrap. Queerer still, she didn't mind at all. He more than made up for the pocket warmer. 'Sure… you'd rather do it with a tree,' she mumbled with a yawn.

There was a contemplating pause. Len hugged her slightly closer with a faint growl. '…Forget that git already, seriously.'

She blinked. Oh. _That_ git. She was so used to the thought she'd almost forgotten where it had originally come from. 'Don't worry, I'm not that sensitive. What was his name again?'

'Hmm. What was it – Phumiya?'

It might have been his phronunciation getting muffled and sounding like "ph". There was a certain odd tugging on a lock of her hair, near the back of her head, sort of bored, sort of wet, sort of ticklish and sort of chomping, suggesting he was taking the whole subject very un-seriously. He was probably thinking about his new girlfriend or something to do with her.

Like her underwear, maybe. Rin scowled again. 'Gumiya.' Was she supposed to be some sort of consolation bolster to keep him occupied at home? Ugh. She was ashamed of even admitting this slut was related to her.

…She was just feeling annoyed right now. He was taking her replies and general conversation and inclination to talk to him perfectly for granted. After ignoring _her_ for so long.

'Don't need any more tissues, then?'

'Stop eating my hair! I had a _cold_, you idiot. I wasn't crying.'

'Yeah, you weren't.'

Rin couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic. He just swung his leg over both of hers in a way that was quite inappropriately possessive. It was just… she couldn't stay annoyed. She was way too tired, though he probably knew that. Even her irritation at his obvious attempt to get the better of her just sank and evaporated off into the softness of the blankets, leaving a warm purr in the bottom of her ears. Her eyelids drooped.

She would have objected if it hadn't been so chilly, of course.

But, sure – she wouldn't deny – this "slut" was sometimes quite convenient to have around. And snug. Wonderfully, irreplaceably snug. She could leave the argument for tomorrow.

Sometimes, she really had to wonder if this Fluffy Bolster and that Slut were both the same twin brother in possession of the same brain. Maybe he had another one put away in his cupboard – but which one was real?

In any cases, she thus finally got her bolster back after two weeks.

' 'night, Princess.'

'Mm.'

* * *

But he really, really was a _slut_. And it didn't even seem to matter a shred to him _who_ he flirted with.

March. A day more to the end of Term Three, finally. The bookstands had been finished and put away until Graduation Day. Rin was gratified to find that someone had made an Evangelion bookstand that resembled Iron Maiden. Now there wasn't much left to do in class except gossip about the latest couples in school and hot new celebrities. (She didn't even _want_ to think about the choir.)

There was a girl-group in the corner chattering about boys (such as Kaito, Len, Rinto, Yūma, Len, others and Len) so Rin made her way to the other group currently discussing cat cafés.

'How were your Math marks?' Miss Lorra asked a group of nerd-wanna-be girls and a Len chattering near the front. A pair of someone's purple glasses was balanced on Len's nose. 'You did get your papers back, didn't you?'

'Uh huh, Miss.'

'Not too good…' a girl winced.

'I _passed_,' another girl said. 'Sort of.'

'Utterly horrific,' said Len solemnly, peering through the tinted glass.

Miss Lorra crossed her arms with a frown. 'What about that parabola question? Len – I remember your paper. What happened with that one?'

'The convex graph, Miss? Um… convex up there, convex somewhere down there – wait – is that two each?' A couple of girls giggled. Miss Lorra whacked him on the head.

'Fill up all your questions next time, alright?'

He grinned sheepishly.

-.-.-.-

The Language teacher was busy writing a letter.

Len folded his elbows over her desk and watched her at it, kicking his feet up and down behind him like a five-year-old until she finally looked up and asked him what he wanted.

'Did you change your number, Miss?'

She stared down her pointed nose at him, half-moon glasses icy. 'Not in any recent years,' she said stonily. 'Why do you ask?'

Len shrugged. 'Oh I don't know… The prom committee was complaining they couldn't contact you –'

'And you are part of it?'

'Of course not.' He giggled. 'I'm still in First Grade.'

'…'

'Well… Some people seem to think I have everyone's number so they asked me if I had your new number…'

'…'

He sighed. 'Okay… okay. Miss Lorra asked me to give this to you.' He pulled out a piece of folded paper and handed it to the Language teacher. She gave him a very stony look.

Rin grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and dragged him out of the classroom. 'You took long enough,' she growled.

'Byeee Miss! See you next term! Love your Language classes!'

He blew glossy pink kisses at the Language teacher all the way till they turned round the corner, giggling, where Rin dumped him against a pillar and stalked off. He probably had too many bonbons again, or something. The usual senior girls had been feeding him something that looked suspiciously like bottle-shaped chocolates earlier that afternoon.

-.-.-.-

Renka and Lily invited her to a game of (strictly no boys) dodgeball in the school gym after school. Len was designated to the outfield while Rin joined the opposite team. But they ended up not having enough players, and the game died halfway. Renka and Lily left her and went off to drool over the sweaty guys playing basketball in the other side of the gym. Len was hooked on and dragged off by a couple of senior girls to attempt to balance on a unicycle, which they took evident relish in teaching him to do.

Rin realised she was standing alone in the empty dodgeball court, clutching the abandoned ball in her hands.

A random boy trotted up to her, followed by a whole group behind him. 'Hey. Are you still playing? Can we have the court?'

'No… Sure, go ahead.'

With a sigh, she passed the ball to the boy and made her way towards the basketball court to find her friends.

She grew somewhat aware that a lot of people were watching her as she made her way across the outer edge of the basketball court. For some reason.

'Hey Rinny! You free this Saturday?'

She shrugged. 'Kind of.' What the hell did he just call her?

'Yes or no?' Rinto asked, throwing his basketball through the loop in a clean shot. Rin haughtily ignored his wink. Like Kaito couldn't do that.

…She hadn't just said that.

'Fine, yes. Your birthday's in March?'

'Duhh, no. Not my _birthday_. You know that new blockbuster _Soundless Voice_, I bought one but I accidentally got another one – it was kind of unexpected – so y'know, I have a spare. We could go to the cinema together.'

'Go with someone else,' she replied flatly.

What sort of an invitation was that?

She simply couldn't imagine going to watch a very sad, tragic movie with this annoying git. Why was it always cinemas? Couldn't they all think of some better date spot at all?

Who invited girls on a date to watch a tragedy, anyway?

'Awh, don't be so stiff. You're free, right? We could…' Rinto trailed off, and then smirked. 'Ooh, looks like someone's _jealous_,' he drawled. Rin turned around to see Len scowling at Rinto. The next moment Rinto went somewhat pale as he saw Lily next to Len, scowling at him too. 'Oh – uh, hi Lily.'

Len beamed. '_Hi_ Rinto. Where did you say you were taking Rin again?' he asked sweetly.

Rin blushed. 'L-Len…'

'How nice and dark and cosy,' Lily added cattily. She looked pretty menacing, her feet slightly apart in quite a sexy stance, both her hands on her hips in (undeniably hot) accusation. Rin couldn't help envying those killer curves like hell and sometimes felt like hating her, even though Lily was her friend.

Rinto scratched his head uncomfortably. 'Uh, right…'

'What was that about a movie?' Lily asked brightly.

'M-movie?'

'Yes – absolutely! I've wanted to watch that movie ever since it came out.' Lily beamed at him. It looked more like a glower. 'Thanks Rinto, you're the best!'

(If she'd forgotten to mention, the two were currently supposed to be in a relationship status.)

Len slipped his hand around Rin's elbow, dragging her along as he attempted to sneak off. 'Alright, let's just get outta here before it gets ugly…'

'Hey – let go of me.' Rin yanked her arm free with a scowl. She turned to Rinto and told him loud and clear, 'No thanks.' Then she flounced off.

Len watched her in mild surprise, and then shrugged with a grin. He turned to follow her and then paused.

'Oh yeah, thanks so much for that book the other day – it's been working pretty good,' he smirked at Rinto before ambling away, flexing his shoulder blades.

* * *

When the final bell rang, signalling everyone to leave the school, Len disappeared into thin air before Rin could wear her shoes. She glimpsed her friends among the crowd squeezing out of the school gate, but didn't manage to wade through to them, and soon lost sight of them again.

When Rin got to the park, she spotted the trio again, chatting beside the path. She gladly trotted over to them.

' – he's seriously _hot_! I actually saw him the other day in town…' Renka fanned herself. 'Woah.'

Neru gasped. 'What did he look like?'

'Like, he has this seriously cute haircut –'

Renka paused as Rin caught up to them. 'Hey! Who's the topic?' Rin asked cheerfully.

'This new guy called Luke. He just moved in. Rumour says he's _dead_ hot.'

'I tell you I saw him the other day!'

Lily smirked. 'Looks like your bro's got competition coming.'

'_Len_?' Rin snorted. 'Pff. Since when was he even a guy?'

'Mmm… True.' The trio closed their eyes and nodded.

Renka leaned forward excitedly, eyes sparkling, ready to retell her epic news again to the newcomer. 'So as I was saying…'

But then she trailed off again.

'Hm? What?'

Rin followed her gaze and saw Len as he sauntered past them, earphones screwed in his ears.

They slowed down and waited for him to go, and then resumed their gossiping. For once, Len wasn't in on it.

-.-.-.-

They were making their way home after Renka had shared her new favourite story three more times when they caught up to Len again. They almost missed him crouching behind a tree as he rummaged in his school bag, beside a large rubbish bin. Curious, they stopped to watch him.

Scowling, Len fished out what looked like several magazines stuffed in his bag, and began to scrunch them up and stuff them into the bin. Wrinkling his nose, he attempted to tear one to pieces, but on finding he didn't have enough brawn for it just tossed it into the bin alongside the others.

Renka elbowed Rin with a devious grin. 'Hey – let's go check it out,' she whispered.

Rin grimaced. 'I don't really think I want to…' She had a bad feeling about this.

'Fine then, we'll check it out without you. Don't you wanna know what's in there?'

'It's… It's probably just the weekly cat-manga edition again…'

'Come _on_, let's check it out.'

Len zipped his bag, shouldered it and padded off, unaware that his three supposedly good friends and twin sister were spying from behind the bush. After making sure that he wasn't coming back, the girls raced to the rubbish bin. Rin reluctantly trailed after them, stomach squirming.

Neru stuck her hand in the bin and smoothed out the magazines.

Renka goggled. They all did. '_Porn_? Seriously?'

Lily raised an eyebrow at her. 'That's not the point. It's _women_'s porn.'

Rin covered her face. 'Eww…'

_The front cover_.

Lily shook her head, flipping through the crumpled pages. 'Your bro's crazy, I tell you.'

'…And you're _looking_ at it.'

Neru looked amazed. 'You mean he brought that to _school_ – and didn't get caught?'

'Why'd he throw it, though?'

'Maybe a teacher wanted it,' Renka giggled.

Lily stomped on her foot.

Rin just looked away up at the trees and sincerely hoped he had a good explanation for it.

* * *

**x333 Len-kun NAU, Len-kun NAU, Len-kun Len-kun Len-kun NAU! Len-kun NAU, Len-kun NAU… (Sorry… got an earbug)**

***A/N: Kindly refer to any random Wiki related to Titans for the definition of 3DMG, I forgot the English name already and I'm really lazy to go find out again right now.**

**Please review! ;3**


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